JU arson: Second-year civil engineering department student gets interim bail from court
Telegraph | 27 March 2025
Jadavpur University student Souptik Chanda, who was arrested last week in connection with arson and vandalism on the campus hours after education minis-ter Bratya Basu’s visit on March 1, was granted interim bail by the Alipore court on Wednesday.
The court granted Chanda bail till July 30. He is a second-year student of the civil engineering department at JU.
The court allowed the bail, striking down a prayer of Kolkata Police that pleaded that Chanda be remanded in police custody till April 1 for further investigations.
The student, who missed an internal exam after he was arrested, was released against a bail amount of ₹5,000.
The court also asked Chanda to meet the investigating officer of Jadavpur police station once daily, between 7pm and 10pm, till July 30.
The case will be heard again on July 30.
Supreo Rakshit, a lawyer representing Chanda, said they told the court that Sagnik Ghosal, one of the 18 students the police had named in the FIR, was granted anticipatory bail by Justice Debanshu Basak of Calcutta High Court on March 21.
“But in the case of Chanda, who was not even named in the FIR, the police are repeatedly seeking jail custody of the student. Besides, we also argued that he could not be charged with arson and vandalism,” Rakshit said.
“After hearing the prosecution and the defence, the court granted the interim bail,” said Rakshit.
On March 18, several students, including Chanda, were summoned to Jadavpur police station.
After several hours of questioning, Chanda was formally arrested.
The arson and vandalism happened hours after the education minister came to the JU campus to attend a programme of a pro-Trinamool Teachers’ organisation. Some Left and ultra-Left students had barricaded the minister, demanding an immediate discussion on pending campus polls.
A court official said the public prosecutor told the court that Chanda be remanded in police custody because more interrogation was required.
Earlier, the police had arrested former student Sahil Ali, now employed with a software company, and first-year philosophy student Soumyadeep Mahanto in connection with the same case, which involved ransacking and setting fire to a pro-Trinamool non-teaching employees’ office on the campus.