A section of students from the Jadavpur University on Monday moved a petition in the Calcutta High Court alleging harassment by police personnel.

The counsel of the petitioners submitted in court that the police are repeatedly issuing summons to some students of the university citing investigation into the March 1 protests. Justice Tirthankar Ghosh granted permission for the matter to be filed.

Jadavpur University has been on the boil since March 1, when the Students Federation of India, AIDSO and other Left students’ organisations gathered in front of State Education Minister Bratya Basu’s convoy on the university campus, demanding students’ union elections across the state.

While it was alleged that Basu was heckled by students, and that his car was vandalised. However, the SFI claimed that many of the students were assaulted, and that a first-year student, Indranuj Roy, was nearly crushed under the minister’s car.

The petition submitted to the court alleges that on March 7, police had asked some students to submit their mobile phones, a request which was  refused by them. The petitioners’ counsel further alleged that the students were once again summoned on Monday.

Several PILs have already been filed in Calcutta High Court regarding the safety and security of the students. That matter will be heard by a division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee.

While hearing a matter last Wednesday on the alleged police inaction in JU during the protests against Basu which took a violent turn, Justice Ghosh said that the police’s intelligence branch may have had a “failure”.

Justice Ghosh seeked a comprehensive report from the state on the violence, directing that Roy have his complaint be treated as an FIR to be filed by Wednesday, after which Jadavpur police have stepped up an investigation. The next date of hearing in the inaction case has been fixed as March 12.