Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to file a detailed report on the incidents that occurred at the Jadavpur University (JU) on March 1 following the visit of the state Education minister Bratya Basu.
The bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh was hearing a petition by some students about alleged police inaction over their complaints. It was stated that seven FIRs were lodged at Jadavpur Police Station, two of which were filed suo motu by the police.
The petitioner’s lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya submitted that the suo motu FIR by the police is silent on the injuries caused to a student because of alleged rash and negligent driving by the minister’s driver inside the campus.
The court asked the Advocate General why the police did not lodge an FIR on an e-mail complaint by the injured student. The police were directed to register the FIR by Wednesday itself. Stating that the court is bothered whether there was any intelligence failure on the part of the police about the agitation on that day in the university, the bench observed that the events on that day could have been avoided if the police took responsibility.
The court remarked that under the garb of agitation, coming in the close vicinity of the minister and manhandling him is not welcome. “I don’t want this to be an example in the rest of West Bengal,” Justice Ghosh observed orally, adding that with the assembly elections in the state due to be held next year, such incidents will multiply and the court does not want such things to happen.
Attorney General Kishore Dutta informed the court that one person had been arrested in connection with what happened at the varsity on March 1.The bench directed the state to prepare a comprehensive report on the series of events that took place on the campus that day. The report is to be submitted on March 12 when the matter will be heard next.