Ragging death: Satisfied by report, UGC team cancels visit to JU on Wed

Swapnadip Kundu, a first year student of Bengali honours, had died under mysterious circumstances after falling from the balcony of a students’ hostel on the JU campus on August 10.

Kolkata: The scheduled visit of a team from the anti-ragging cell of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to Jadavpur University (JU) on Wednesday in the wake of the mysterious death of a fresher within the university campus on August 10 has been cancelled.

Swapnadip Kundu, a first year student of Bengali honours, had died under mysterious circumstances after falling from the balcony of a students’ hostel on the JU campus on August 10.

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Informing mediapersons about the latest development, JU Registrar Snehomonju Basu said that on Monday, the university authorities sent a preliminary report on Swapnadip’s death to the UGC and satisfied by that report, the latter cancelled the visit of its anti-ragging cell team that was scheduled on Wednesday.

It is learnt that in the report, the JU authorities have detailed on the steps taken by them following the tragedy to prevent incidents of ragging and harassment of freshers within the university campus, especially in the students’ hostels.

The UGC has also been updated about the decision of the JU authorities to shift all first year students to a separate hostel.

The JU authorities also apprised the UGC about the steps being taken to arrest the long-standing menace of hostels being occupied by ex-students even months after passing out from the university.

“The Commission seems to be satisfied with our report and hence it has decided cancel the visit of its anti-ragging cell team to the campus scheduled on Wednesday,” Basu said.

Meanwhile, the JU authorities have decided to appoint one mentor for each subject for the first year students whom the freshers can contact and consult in case of any difficulty they face on the campus.

The UGC has also been assured of installation of CCTV cameras within the university campus.