The National Human Rights Commission on Monday took suo motu cognisance of a media report about a first-year student of Jadavpur University in West Bengal who allegedly became a victim of ragging and died on August 10. The NHRC also sent notices to the state government and the registrar of the university after a student died due to ragging, said an official release. The commission further said it observed the lack of supervision and failure on the part of the college administration led to the death of the young student, who was also undergoing the trauma of ragging.
The incident took place after the boy, under 18 years of age, fell from the second-floor balcony of the varsity's hostel. The fellow students of the victim reportedly had tried to bring the matter to the notice of the Dean but their efforts went in vain, said the commission in its official release.
The NHRC said if the contents reported in the media are found true then it will “amount to a violation of the human rights of the student.”
It has also asked the state government and the concerned authorities to submit a report on the matter within four weeks. The report must include details such as the reasons for the prima facie failure of the institution to take adequate steps to prevent ragging in accordance with the UGC regulation, and the steps taken or proposed to punish the perpetrators of the ragging including its abettors and sympathizers.
Earlier, the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) also said prima facie it is of the view that the unnatural death of a first-year undergraduate student at Jadavpur University Boys main hostel be dealt with under the provisions of POCSO, reported news agency PTI.
Meanwhile, WBCPCR advisor Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborty said the boy should not be identified as he is "a Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) victim".