Former CU student gives secret deposition before court, alleges ragging

MP | 20 Aug 2023 | Kolkata: A former student of Calcutta University (CU) gave his secret deposition before Alipore Court on Saturday alleging ragging during his stay at the hostel. The student, who used to pursue engineering at Ballygunge Science College, used to stay in the hostel while pursuing his studies. 

The victim, Biswajit Hazra, a resident of Birbhum, claimed that he had gained the courage to speak up about ragging that he was subjected to following the death of a first-year undergraduate student of Bengali at Jadavpur University due to alleged ragging. 

According to sources, Hazra had sought admission in 2019 to the Department of Jute and Fibre Technology and had been lodged at the hostel since then. He had complained of physical as well as mental torture on more than one occasion during his stay at the hostel and had lodged a formal complaint with the Ballygunge police station in the month of July. He had also alleged that seniors used to call him in their rooms in the pretext of introduction and forced him to buy liquor, hurl abuses at him and even asked him uncomfortable questions regarding sexual desires. 

He further alleged that they used to urinate inside his room and even threw his personal belongings out of the room. They even went to the extent of preventing him to have his allotted food in the hostel. 

The alleged ragging had reached its peak in the last six months, according to Hazra. He also alleged that he faced discrimination because of his caste. “We take all possible measures for addressing the issues of all boarders and in the case of Hazra too we have done the same. His allegations are not fully correct. 

The university does not allow any discrimination on the basis of caste,” CU Registrar Debasis Das said. According to sources in the CU, Hazra was supposed to vacate the hostel on June 30 but continued to stay there for reasons better known to him. “Some other students have also complained to the authorities about him,” a senior CU official said. 

 https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/former-cu-student-gives-secret-deposition-before-court-alleges-ragging-529844