JU Juniors Were Forced To Strip, Rub Faces Against Wall: Panel On Ragging

According to the findings of the committee, the students of Jadavpur University were forced to strip down to their undergarments, and then do activities like standing atop an almirah, rubbing one's faces against the wall, 'frog-jumps' and crawling under the cots.

Outlook Web Desk

Updated on: 20 September 2023 3:48 am

The campus of Jadavpur University

While first-year students were forced to strip and rub their faces against the wall, hostel superintendents "feared" for their safety --- an internal committee at Jadavpur University noted in its report after interviewing hundreds of students at the hostel following the suicide of a 17-year-old student last month.
The committee was formed after the death of an undergraduate student on August 10, allegedly due to ragging on campus.

According to the findings of the committee, the students were forced to strip down to their undergarments, and then do activities like standing atop an almirah, rubbing one's face against the wall, 'frog-jumps' and crawling under the cots. However, such a ragging culture has not been an isolated one in JU where such practices have been allegedly happening over the years.

The report further found that the freshers, often referred to as 'bachas', are forced to wash the clothes of the seniors, buy them groceries, complete their assignments, and also hurl expletives at other women in the adjacent building. The juniors would also be subjected to beatings and humiliation if they did not follow such instructions by the seniors.

Death of the 17-year-old student

The committee has identified 35 senior students and six “alumni/unauthorised boarders” who were allegedly “involved in ragging” the victim at the varsity’s main hostel. It also identified four senior students and six former students as the “main raggers”.

On the night of his death, the victim was singled out in ragging, sexually abused and labelled a 'gay'.

“At around 7.30 pm, the victim was taken to [a] room along with a few other ‘freshers’ by seniors, where the ‘freshers’ were forced to shout highly objectionable, sexist, and abusive lines directed towards female residents of the adjacent police quarters,” the report noted, according to a report by the Indian Express.

According to the report, not enough evidence has been received and statements given of what happened right before the fall have been uncertain and vague.