In a tragic incident, a first-year student of Jadavpur University in Kolkata succumbed to death after allegedly falling from the second-floor balcony of the main hostel, police said on Thursday.
The student has been identified as 18-year-old Swapnadip Kundu who hailed from Bagula in Nadia district. Kundu took admission as an undergraduate student of Bengali (honours) at Jadavpur University.
According to police, he allegedly fell from a hostel building around 11.45 pm on Wednesday and received multiple injuries. He died at 4.30 am during treatment at the KPC Medical College.
Governor CV Ananda Bose, who is also the Chancellor of the university, visited the hostel and assured Swapnadip’s father of stern action against those responsible for his son’s death.
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When questioned about the incident, JU Registrar Snehamanju Basu said responded to the Jadavpur police station saying that the said student was found on the road in front of the main hostel within the campus in unconscious and wounded condition "at 11 pm" and "despite every step taken for immediate and best possible treatment for him, he died at 6 am today."
Initial probe says ragging was the cause
According to police, preliminary investigation revealed that the student was bullied allegedly by some senior boarders of the hostel.
It has also been told that an apprehensive Kundu called up his mother at around 9 PM on Wednesday and expressed his fear "about something".
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"His phone got switched off later. We are looking into his call list to find out whether he spoke to anyone else after that or not," the officer said, adding that they have examined the mobile phones of his roommates.
The post-mortem report is awaited.
"It seems that the boy was in mental distress after seniors started terming him gay. There are witnesses when he started showing discomfort regarding this. He called up his mother at least four times on Wednesday and also deactivated his Facebook account in the evening," the officer told PTI.
On the allegation of Swapnodip’s father that his son is a victim of ragging, the police officer said that they were talking to the in-charge of the hostel and also the students who have recently started staying there.
Meanwhile, adding strength to the claim of ragging, another first-year student of Jadavpur University alleged in a Facebook post that ragging by “a few seniors” was behind the death of his friend Swapnodeep.
"My name is Arpan Majhi. I am a first-year student at Jadavpur University. My family is economically backward and I grew up in Asansol. Naturally, I applied for a hostel during admission. Spending two to three nights at the hostel was quite tormenting to me and because of that, I have started looking for a mess despite facing great difficulty, even if I have to take a loan," he said in that post.
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"I have heard many stories about the main hostel. Stories of them helping flood victims, standing by the side of helpless people during the Covid-19 pandemic. I believe most of the seniors in the main hostel carry this fighting tradition. But for a few of them, I lost my classmate," he alleged.
How did the university respond?
Responding to the heart-wrenching incident, Jadavpur University Teachers Association (JUTA) Secretary Partha Pratim Roy called for keeping new students in a separate hostel as per UGC rules and immediately driving out former students who had been living in the hostel illegally.
“We demand exemplary punishment for those responsible for his fate," Roy said.
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A spokesperson of the varsity’s Arts Faculty Students Union said, “We want a full probe into the incident and punishment for the guilty. We stand by the family of the deceased. We also want that allegations of physical torture of freshers are not raised again.”
