JU report: From getting alcohol to being forced to strip, ragging a regular practice

‘The spot of accident was washed by a group of boarders with water’ 

MP | 21 Sept 2023 : The probe into the incident of ragging on the Jadavpur University campus by the inquiry committee revealed startling facts, including bringing liquor for seniors’, washing seniors’ clothes to freshers being forced to strip down to their undergarments. 

The committee was formed after the death of an undergraduate student in an incident on the night of August 9, allegedly due to ragging on campus. 

The panel prepared its report after hundreds of students living in the hostels were interviewed. The students were allegedly made to rub their faces against the wall and stay atop almirahs indefinitely, according to the committee’s findings. 

“They 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 crawl under the cots,” said the report. 

The freshers, who are referred to as ‘bachcha’ (kid), were forced to wash their seniors’ clothes, write assignments for them and run errands, including getting liquor, cigarettes and food from nearby markets at late hours, it claimed. 

The freshers were also forced to hurl expletives at female residents of the adjacent police quarters, and the punishment for refusal would include physical spanking, it added. 

The 17-year-old boy fell from the second-floor balcony of a hostel on August 9 allegedly during ragging by seniors, some of whom were staying in the facility illegally. 

The resident of Nadia district died in a hospital the next day. His family alleged that he was a victim of ragging. 

The report claimed that what happened on that evening was not merely an isolated incident of ragging, but rather a regular practice. 

“The spot of the accident was washed by a group of boarders with water, following the instruction of one of the seniors after the victim was rushed to the hospital in a yellow taxi at around midnight of August 9,” it said. 

“Information regarding the subsequent movements, just prior to his fatal fall, is rather uncertain and vague, as none of the witnesses gave a clear-cut description of the incident, which could help in ascertaining the cause and sequence of the mishap,” it added. 

The committee alleged that the victim was singled out for severe pre-planned ragging, which included possible sexual abuse. 

Thirteen, including former and current students, were arrested in connection with the case. 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/ju-report-from-getting-alcohol-to-being-forced-to-strip-ragging-a-regular-practice-533711