4-member UGC team visits JU

kolkata: A four-member University Grant Commission (UGC) team visited Jadavpur University on Monday raising questions on the anti-ragging steps taken by the varsity.

They met with the university’s anti-ragging committee members, registrar and dean of students as well as teachers of the Bengali department, which the deceased student belonged to. According to a source in the university, the UGC team may meet the members of the Executive Council (EC) on Tuesday.

The first-year undergraduate student was a resident of Bagula in Nadia district and an under-graduate student of Bengali (Honours). He allegedly fell from the second-floor balcony of the main hostel around 11.45 pm on August 9 and died while undergoing treatment at a hospital the next day.

Ragging was one of the allegations made by his family members behind the student’s death. Even the second interim report submitted by the Internal Inquiry Committee of the university suggested that the deceased was a victim of ragging and that ragging was persistent in the main boys’ hostel.

It can be mentioned that earlier UGC had shown dissatisfaction with the first report sent by the administration, where they had sought details of the steps taken by the institute to conduct a joint counselling of freshers and seniors within the first two weeks of the session’s beginning.

However, in the letter sent by UGC to the varsity’s administration notifying of the visit, no specific reason has been cited for the same as per a source.