[Express India] JU ragging: Student unions divided

Express news service
Posted online: Saturday, October 06, 2007 at 0000 hrs IST
Kolkata, October 05

Jadavpur University (JU) remained on tenterhooks today with students’ unions protesting against the ragging incident, in which five students were punished.
Though classes were not interrupted, tension prevailed on the campus throughout the day.

Representatives of Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union (FETSU) on Friday resigned from their respective posts. “As students’ representative, we cannot support ragging. We have, therefore, decided to step down,” said one of the representatives.

On the other hand, SFI representatives protested the FETSU’s stand on its decision to reprimand students for ragging.

Uttio Basu, SFI local committee secretary, said that since all the accused students are affiliated to the FETSU, it is putting pressure on JU authorities to let off their members.

Five students in the engineering department were punished for ragging a junior on Wednesday. Two of the accused — Chittaranjan Burma and Milton Baidya of the civil and mechanical engineering departments respectively — were suspended for the coming semester scheduled to begin from January 2008.

Kaji Imam Alam of the chemical engineering department and electronic engineering student Nilanjan Biswas were suspended from the hostel for a year.

The executive council, the university’s highest policy-making body, decided to punish the boys on the basis of a recommendation of the institution’s anti-ragging committee. A first-year student had lodged a complaint with the authorities in the third week of August, alleging that he had been subjected to ragging.

The complaint was forwarded to the anti-ragging committee, which held a month-long inquiry and found the five students guilty.

The FETSU members gheraoed the executive committee members when they were about to decide the penalty for the accused students. The students said that they were protesting against the exam regulations and the publication of the results of the supplementary examinations demanding them to be declared on time.

Rajat Bandopadhyay, Registrar of Jadavpur University, however, claimed that the punishment was nothing severe.

“We took the decision as it might act as a deterrent and the students will not repeat such actions in future,” added Bandopadhyay.

Following a Supreme Court order banning ragging in all educational institutions, the University Grants Commission had made it compulsory for all universities to set up panels to check ragging and bring offenders to book.

Bandopadhyay added that the university is deciding on having a separate hostel for each year.

“The students of all years will be separated and kept in different hostels. Their is a certain possibility of such decision in near future and we will take up the matter in executive committee meeting,” he said.

Link to Report

[DNAIndia.com] Ragging menace on rise in Bengal

Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri Friday,
September 14, 2007 03:34 IST

KOLKATA: West Bengal has once again been rocked by a spate of ragging incidents sending shock and fear amongst aspiring engineers and their parents.

In last couple of months eight incidences of ragging have been reported from different engineering colleges of the state and majority of them involved severe physical injuries to students. Last week it was height of it. A first year student of a private engineering college in Bankura district, Sudipto Mondal, was pushed from his hostel's second floor during ragging.


While Sudipto is still fighting for his life with multiple injuries in a nursing home in Bankura, the police is yet to arrest the six absconding senior raggers, against whom FIRs were registered.
Two days back before Sudipto's incident, a fourth year student of Bengal Engineering & Science University (Besu) was severely thrashed up by his own classmates, when he tried to resist them from ragging a junior, first year student. As first, the university authorities tried to hush up the entire incident but later it looked into the matter.

Similarly, last month, a first year student of the same institute of Bankura was forced to walk on balcony railings. Not being able to maintain balance he fell down and sustained severe injuries. No action was taken against the alleged students.

Former dean of Jadavpur University, S Roy said the regional and private engineering colleges should follow the IITs in checking ragging for good. According to him, the IITs have strictly decided that any student found guilty of ragging will be instantly expelled from the institute.

Link to Report

[The Telegraph] Students allege mass ragging

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Behrampore, Sept. 14: Fourteen first-year students, who had had enough of stripping in front of seniors, doing sit-ups and touching their feet, have filed a police complaint against them.
Police raided the Kandi Raj College hostel for eight second and three third year-students last night. They were missing.

“Every night, we were asked to do sit-ups at least a hundred times and touch their feet. We were forced to dance in our underwear. If we disobeyed them, they beat us up with sticks and made us write indecent things about our families,” a first-year student said.

The hostel with 60 students does not have a full-time su- perintendent. Indrajit Das, a non-teaching employee, is in charge. He declined comment.

The college tried to play down the charge. “They were hurt by the seniors’ jokes. It was not ragging,” principal Rashbehari Sinha said.

Link to Report

Anti Ragging campaign during WBJEE councelling

No Ragging Foundation is going to campaign during the coming WBJEE counseling both - Medical & Engineering likely to be held on 25th June, 2007.
Everyone is requested to paticipate in this project.Please contact us at: help@no2ragging.org

Call us:
Jayanta(+91 94336 75575)
Kushal(+91 98360 42919)
Pankaj(+91 94336 84293)