KOLKATA: The “indiscipline” on display at Jadavpur University “cannot be allowed to spread like an epidemic across Bengal” campuses like what is happening in the neighbouring country, the Calcutta high court observed on Wednesday and directed Bengal govt to “act like a guardian” of the students.
The court was hearing a plea by JU students which said their mass petition to police after the campus violence during education minister Baratya Basu’s visit on Saturday, and the email to police from Indranuj Roy, the injured student, are not being registered as FIRs.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh directed police to immediately register an FIR based on Indranuj’s email. At the same time, Justice Ghosh repeatedly flagged concerns on a possible “intelligence lapse” which allowed a mob to get close to a “constitutional authority” (the education minister) and even “manhandle” him.
Basu, who went to JU on Saturday to attend a meeting of the West Bengal College and University Professors’ Association, was heckled by Left-backed students over pending student union elections. His car was damaged, the meeting venue vandalized, several professors thrashed, and an employees’ union office set on fire. Justice Ghosh said while there could be an agitation, it did not justify getting physically close to a constitutional authority, adding “this is not the way civil society works”. “I do not want a parallel to what is happening in the neighbouring country,” he said.
