Student's death responsibility of univ as a whole; proper security needed at campus: JU interim VC

Newly-appointed interim Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University Buddhadeb Sau on Sunday said that the death of a student allegedly following ragging and sexual harassment is the responsibility of the varsity "as a whole" and a proper security arrangement is needed at the campus to maintain a healthy atmosphere.

He described the death of the 17-year-old boy as very unfortunate and heartrending.

"The responsibility is of the whole university and not of any one person... A proper security arrangement has to be made to ensure that a healthy atmosphere is maintained in the university," Sau said.

Amid clamours by some quarters for the installation of CCTV cameras in every part of the university, he said that it is not that this is the only solution.

"We will have to see whether CCTV or any other technology like RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) will be effective or human surveillance will be more useful based on an assessment of security threats," he said.

Sau, who was appointed as interim vice chancellor on Saturday by Governor C V Ananda Bose, who is the ex-officio chancellor of the university, said that steps have been taken on earlier occasions over allegations of ragging within the parameters of rules and guidelines.

Admitting that there must have been some lapses, he said, "We will have to ensure that such things do not happen again." The 17-year-old student died after falling from a second-floor balcony of the main boys' hostel on August 9. His family alleged he was a victim of ragging.

The newly appointed interim VC is a professor of the varsity's Department of Mathematics.

The governor issued orders on Saturday night, authorising Sau to exercise the powers and perform the duties of the vice-chancellor with immediate effect, officials said.

The tenure of the varsity's last full-time vice-chancellor Suranjan Das, who served for nine years, ended on May 31.

Following that, Bose appointed Amitabha Datta, the pro-VC of the varsity, as the officiating vice-chancellor but he resigned on August 4.

Datta had resigned after being asked by the governor.