‘Fresher who died singled out for severe ragging’: Jadavpur University probe panel

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The inquiry committee of Jadavpur University constituted to probe into the circumstances leading to the death of a fresher has submitted its report to the authorities concluding that the victim was singled out for severe pre-planned ragging, which included possible sexual abuse, PTI reported. The committee said there are two possibilities for his death – “a case of abetted incident and a case of homicide," the report said. The 17-year-old fresher, resident of Nadia district died, fell from the second-floor balcony of his hostel on August 9 allegedly during ragging by seniors who were staying in the facility illegally.

The victim died in a hospital the next day. The inquiry committee, however, could not conclusively say in its report the reasons behind the “tragic fall" of the student which led to his death. A total of 13 men, all former or current students, who were boarders of the hostel, were arrested in connection with the case.

"As it seems, he (the victim) was singled out for ragging, which was carried out in a systematic planned manner, having deliberately isolating him for severe ragging, while the rest of his batch-mates were far from him attending a hostel general body meeting," the PTI quoted the inquiry panel report. It stated that the first-year undergraduate student of the Bengali department was ragged in phases on that evening, the report added. At around 6.30 pm, the victim was taken to a room along with 6-7 other freshers by one of the main accused where they were forced to shout "highly objectionable, sexist, and abusive" words towards the female residents of the adjacent police quarters.