Jadavpur University violence: Injured student slapped with non-bailable sections

Kolkata, March 3 (IANS) Indranuj Ray, a first-year student of Jadavpur University, who is currently under treatment at a Kolkata-based hospital for injuries sustained after allegedly being hit by the vehicle of West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu, has been slapped with charges under non-bailable sections by the Kolkata Police. 

In three separate cases, all carrying non-bailable sections, Ray and some other agitating students of Jadavpur University have been accused of physically heckling the Minister, unlawfully blocking his vehicle, and attempting to snatch his wristwatch, sources in city police said.

At the same time, Roy and some other students have been accused of vandalism and setting afire a property within the university premises.

A total of seven cases so far have been registered as regards the chaos within the university campus last Saturday, the city Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma has confirmed to the media. “Of the cases, two have registered suo motu by the police. Cases have been filed against a total of 48 individuals in the matter,” Verma has confirmed.

Meanwhile, the activists of CPI(M)’s student wing, Students’ Federation of India (SFI), convened a strike at all colleges and universities in the state on Monday as a mark of protest against the Minister's vehicle allegedly hitting the students, which they said was a deliberate act.

However, the examination centers for Uccha Madhyamik (Higher Secondary) conducted by the West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education had been kept out of the purview of the strike. At the time the report was filed, there had been no report of major chaos or disturbance as an effect of the strike.

The ruckus broke out on Saturday when the Minister's car was allegedly stopped after it entered the campus, and a scuffle followed. The students were demanding immediate elections to the university’s students’ council.

The agitating students alleged that while Basu decided to leave the campus in the face of the protests by students, his vehicle deliberately hit the two agitating students, following which they were severely injured and had to be hospitalized.

On Saturday, amid the protests, the Minister received minor injuries and fell sick. He was taken to the state-run S.S.K.M. Medical College & Hospital and was released later.

--IANS

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