Jadavpur University meeting discusses probe into campus violence, to ask govt for fast-tracking student union polls

Kolkata: The Jadavpur University authorities on Tuesday discussed the issue of ordering a high-level probe into the March 1 violence inside the campus during protests by Left and ultra-Left student outfits in the presence of Education minister Bratya Basu, an official said.

A senior university official said in the meeting, the officiating Vice-Chancellor Bhaskar Gupta, other officials and representatives of four teachers’ organisations, also unanimously decided to take up with the higher education department about holding student union polls which had been pending since 2020.

Gupta, who is not well, attended the meeting virtually from his home. Acting Registrar Dr Indrajit Banerjee and other senior officials were physically present.

Protests erupted on March 1, when two students were injured after a car in Basu’s convoy allegedly grazed past them during a melee.

The incident occurred as Left-leaning students attempted to prevent the minister from leaving the campus, demanding discussions on the conduct of student union elections which were not held for several years.

Basu himself sustained injuries when his car’s windshield was damaged during the protest. An office of the Trinamool Congress-backed non-teaching employees’ union on the campus was also set on fire.

During the deliberation on Tuesday, more than one professor’s bodies demanded that the university initiate a high-level probe into the entire sequence of events of March 1 – from the meeting of TMC-leaning teacher’s organisation WBCUPA to the arson inside the campus, the official told PTI.

"One of the teacher bodies called for a probe by a retired judge. Another said the probe should not be an eye wash but an impartial one consisting of persons with expertise, respected in their fields and having a non-controversial background," he said.

Officiating VC Bhaskar Gupta, who has not been going to the campus since March 2 after he was manhandled by a group of students, agreed to the demands for immediate restoration of normalcy and instituting a high-level probe but did not specify its scope and nature.

The meeting also decided to urge the higher education department authorities to fast-track the process of holding students' union polls which had not taken place for five years and was the root cause of the March 1 trouble at the campus, the official said.

Gupta could not be contacted.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA), West Bengal College and Professors Association (WBCUPA), All Bengal University Teachers Association (ABUTA), and West Bengal College and University Teachers' Association (WBCUTA).

At the meeting demands were made by JUTA, ABUTA and CUTA for dropping “false cases of assault” against some Left student protestors of the university in connection with the heckling of Basu and some TMC-leaning WBCUPA members at the campus and damage caused to their cars, the official said.

There were unsubstantiated allegations made against a few students who are members of Left and ultra-Left organisations though they were not at the spot then, JUTA General Secretary Partha Pratim Roy said.

He alleged that the police complaint about vandalism in the house of an office-bearer of the TMC-backed non-teaching staff union was false.

“The VC agreed that such charges would ruin the career of the students and assured us that none of the students would be harassed on trumped-up charges. For us, every student - whether he is a supporter of SFI, RSF or TMCP - is the same," Roy said.

It was also resolved in the meeting that incidents like the clash between ABVP and SFI members near a gate on the campus on March 3 should not recur, the official said.

"The four university teachers' unions also called upon the authorities to urge the state to boost security on the campus, increase surveillance and installation of CCTVs at entry points," the official said.

The meeting also decided to fill up vacant posts at the university’s decision-making bodies like the Executive Council and Court at the earliest.