Government report on Jadavpur University violence to be submitted in High Court today
Telegraph | 12 March 2025
The state government has to submit a report before Calcutta High Court on Wednesday on what transpired at Jadavpur University when education minister Bratya Basu visited the campus on March 1 and the corrective steps taken by police.
The report should have what the police found on examining the complainants, the arrested accused, witnesses and others facing charges, which includes the education minister.
Basu has been charged with attempt to murder of a student in an FIR registered after the intervention of Calcutta High Court last week.
Sources in the Kolkata Police headquarters Lalbazar said the police have recorded Basu’s statement in connection with the allegation against him.
In his statement, Basu is said to have mentioned how his car came under attack by a group of violent students who were not allowing him to leave and smashed his car’s windscreen, the sources said.
Sources close to Basu said the police spoke to the minister immediately after his car was attacked and damaged.
“Why should we think the police would wait for the court to intervene and then talk to the minister? The police contacted him soon after the incident,” a source said.
Police sources confirmed that Basu, his driver and JU professor Om Prakash Mishra, co-accused in the case, were formally examined, and their statements were recorded after the eighth FIR in connection with the campus violence was drawn up.
A police source said cops had “informally spoken to Basu earlier also” in connection with the attack on his car.
Calls and text messages to Basu went unanswered.
Last week, the court criticised the role of the police and pointed to Special Branch intelligence failure in pre-empting the attack on the minister. The court had sought a report from the state government by March 12.
Sources in the state home department said the report would largely be based on the police findings, the progress of the investigation and the evidence gathered.
Kolkata Police are working on eight FIRs in connection with the incidents of March 1.
The focal point of the report would be the progress of the police’s investigation into the eighth FIR, against Basu, his driver Rehan Molla and JU professor Mishra.
Sources said the state would share with the court that the police recorded the statements of the three accused and carried out a forensic examination of Basu’s car.
The police have also recorded the statements of some students who witnessed the incidents.
For the other seven FIRs, the police have arrested a former JU student for alleged arson and summoned several people. “Most of them have not responded to the summons. We have sent fresh summons,” an officer said.
Basu was on the campus to preside over a programme of the pro-Trinamool West Bengal College and University Professors Association (WBCUPA).
A group of students formed human chains around Basu’s car and tried to prevent him from leaving, demanding immediate discussions on the pending student elections.
One student, Indranuj Roy, complained that the minister’s car hit him as it sped away. Protesting students, armed with stones and batons, smashed the car’s windshield, climbed atop the bonnet and hurled slippers before the vehicle left the campus.
Acting on a prod from Justice Tirthankar Ghosh last week, the cops took cognisance of an email complaint from Indranuj, who brought charges of attempt to murder against Basu and the two others.
Investigators have collected several video footages of the incident to piece together the sequence of events that transpired on the campus and subsequently led to the arson, sources said.