Last phone call home and warning ignored: The night of Jadavpur varsity tragedy

The death, three days after he moved into the university hostel, of a first-year student at Jadavpur University, who was allegedly ragged and sexually harassed has laid bare the rampant culture of violence and persecution that freshers routinely face at the institution.

It is a culture that casually and routinely and wantonly continued to flout anti-ragging guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission in 2008 based on recommendations of the Supreme Court .

Read here: JU student’s death: University to strengthen campus security, install CCTVs

It is a culture where freshers were subjected to intense mental and physical harassment, usually at night, where they were asked to strip or dance in their undergarments, and where they were often paraded nude. If they failed or were too embarrassed to do so, punishment would follow, with their photographs and videos being shot so as to blackmail them.

Perhaps the clearest example of such a culture of toxicity and administrative laxity are the unfortunate events of August 9 when the first-year student, still a minor, died. Based on conversations with students, teachers, administrators, and police and government officials, HT has sought to piece together the unfortunate events of that night -- and the result is a story that shines a light on the distressing normal in the hostel of one of West Bengal’s most prestigious higher education institutions.

The 17 year-old boy (he will turn 18 on October 31 this year) from Bagula, a town in Nadia district was meant to begin classes on August 7, and begun staying in the hostel in block A2 from August 6.

At 8:30 pm on August 9, the victim’s parents began to worry when they had not heard from him; they called him on his mobile phone multiple times, but the calls were all unanswered. Half an hour later, his parents called Sourav Chowdhury, a former student who passed out in 2022 with MSc Mathematics, but had continued staying in the hostel in violation of the rules. They were told that their son was fine. He was just busy because “some discussions were going on”, the father says he was told.

A few minutes later, the family received a phone call from an unknown number. “We could hear our son shouting in the background. He said he was not okay and that he was afraid,” the father told HT. It was the last time they would hear his voice. His last frantic words to his parents, before the phone call was disconnected, were “Ma, am I gay?”

Police officials said that prima facie investigations have indicated that in the name of “counselling” and “introductory sessions”, the victim was allegedly taken to multiple rooms of the second and third floor of the hostel and ragged. He was asked to “prove he was not homosexual”. The torture started around 9 pm and some “sessions” were held in room number 68 on the second floor and 104 on the third floor. Monotosh Ghosh, a second-year student of sociology, was the occupant of room 104.

Officials said that the victim had applied for a hostel room but had not been allocated one during the selection process. This is not unusual, they said, for demand far outstrips supply. But the victim’s father had come across Chowdhury and Ghosh during the process; they had told him not to worry, and that until a room was found, they would find the freshman a place to stay as a guest of another boarder. Officials and students HT spoke to said this is a grey area, because guests are allowed in the hostel, and added that several take advantage of this loophole to live in the hostels at length. The “guest” is expected to pay the bills at the hostel canteen separately.

In any case, as he was being ragged in multiple rooms, police officials said that the victim was forced to sign a letter, written by second-year student Dipshekhar Dutta and Saptak Kamilya and Sourav Chowdhury, both ex-students. This letter alleged that a senior named Rudra Chatterjee (referred to as Rudra da) told the victim that seniors ask freshers to do certain tasks and “if they don’t obey they are threatened that they will be thrown from the rooftop.” When HT checked withthe victim’s family, they said the name Rudra was unfamiliar to them.

Police officials said that it was unclear at this stage why the students forced the victim to sign this letter, that is dated August 10 (the victim died in the wee hours of August 10) and what they intended to do with it. “The statements of some of the accused are not matching. We are verifying everything,” said a senior officer.

At around 10:05 pm, the dean of students Rajat Roy received a phone call from a student who told him that another student, the victim, was facing “politicizing.” It was a term Roy did not understand and he asked the caller to explain. “He said a student was being told that if one has to stay in the hostel, he needs to jump from the balcony. I asked him to inform the hostel superintendent. At 10:08pm I asked the superintendent to check. The next phone call I got was a little after midnight in which the superintendent informed me that a student had fallen from the balcony and I rushed to the hospital,” Roy said.

Hostel superintendent Tapan Jana, who said he has in the past been “manhandled” and “gheraoed” by hostellers while trying to oust illegal boarders did not go up to the first and second floor. “I went to the ground floor of the hostel. There was no problem. I found nothing (abnormal),” said Jana, who is a contractual employee.

The victim then reportedly jumped around 11:45 pm, a full one hour and forty minutes after the Dean was warned , and in turned called the hostel warden. Both, as well as the registrar Snehamanju Basu, have been questioned since by the police.

Hassan Gayen, a PhD student who lives in an adjacent block, said he heard a loud commotion and saw a student jump from the balcony. He was one of the first to reach the spot. “I was talking to my family on the phone and students shouting on the second floor of the block. I asked some students who live there what was going on and they said a general body meeting was being held. I went away for a while and while I was returning, the noise was even louder. I saw a student jump out. He was naked, and bleeding profusely,” Gayen said.

The victim’s body was wrapped in a towel and rushed to the KPC Medical College in a taxi by some students where he succumbed to injuries around 4:30 am.

Police have learnt that soon after the student allegedly jumped, freshmen were asked to go inside their rooms while seniors and former students held a “general body meeting” to decide on what version of events would be presented to the media and the police.

“At least four such meetings were held in the next 24 hours. One was held soon after the news reached that the victim has succumbed,” said an officer.

Jayanta Kumar Pal, the gatekeeper who was on duty that night said, “I could sense something had happened. There was a lot of chaos and students were rushing towards A-block. Students started coming to the gate in batches and asked me not to allow anyone inside.”

Read here: UGC pulls up Jadavpur university over report into first-year student’s death

The police received a phone call from a hostel resident around midnight, but had to wait to enter the hostel for a few minutes, with the gates locked. A case has been registered under section 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code, and 12 people, including six students, arrested.

On August 11, the administration shifted freshmen to a new hostel and put up an anti-ragging hoarding. On August 17, they decided to install CCTV cameras. “The UGC guidelines have them all. During my tenure a decade ago, I had installed CCTv cameras and flood lights, the production of identity cards at gates was made mandatory. But soon after I stepped down, all these were removed,” said Abhijit Chakraborty, former VC of the university.