The Jadavpur University enquiry commission examining the August 19-20 campus violence may summon anyone it considers necessary, including people connected to a demand for an FIR over the alleged leaking of CCTV footage to journalists, vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said after the commission met at the university’s Salt Lake campus.
Bhattacharjee said the demand, submitted by the Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (ABRSM), had been placed before the commission. The RSS-affiliated teachers’ association has asked the university to lodge an FIR against those who allegedly shared footage of the incidents with the media while a police investigation was underway.
“It’s a judicial enquiry commission, a quasi-judicial body. The commission is probing what happened on August 19 and August 20. We received a letter from a teachers’ association seeking an FIR against those who allegedly leaked CCTV footage of what had happened on the campus. This too has been placed before the commission,” the vice-chancellor said, according to The Telegraph.
A university official said the commission had prepared a list of people based on statements, video footage and documents submitted by those familiar with the events. Nineteen people are expected to be called to give evidence by the end of September. The commission had earlier issued a public notice inviting anyone with knowledge of the incidents to submit evidence.
The commission met nearly a month after the violence. Students have raised concerns about the pace of the enquiry and the lack of visible progress in the police case. Jadavpur University authorities filed an FIR at Jadavpur police station on August 21 and handed over CCTV footage, according to the report. A student, Rijupalika Mukherjee, said police had not yet taken action against those accused of vandalising the campus.
The August 19-20 events followed the alleged assault of ABVP unit president Nikhil Das by Left supporters. On the morning of August 20, attackers allegedly threw fireballs at students behind a locked grille at the portico of the university’s administrative headquarters and threatened to outrage their modesty, the report said. Later that afternoon, suspected ABVP supporters allegedly attempted to climb over Gate No. 4 and damaged the university emblem designed by artist Nandalal Bose.
The report also refers to CCTV footage that allegedly showed Buddhadeb Sau, a former Jadavpur University vice-chancellor and member of the teachers’ association, speaking with ABVP central committee member Subhabrata Adhikari near Gate No. 4. These claims remain part of the issues being examined and have not been established as findings of the commission.
ABRSM unit president and Jadavpur University professor Bhaskar Sardar said selectively leaking sensitive CCTV footage during a police investigation was a criminal offence and warranted an FIR. Students, however, have argued that the focus on the alleged leak could divert attention from the violence and the university’s security failures.
The enquiry’s composition has already changed. The university appointed a retired Calcutta High Court judge as its head after the Mahasangh objected to the proposed appointment of former vice-chancellor Subha Shankar Sarkar. Abul Hasnat, a deputy registrar, was also removed from the commission following objections from the association.
Bhattacharjee rejected allegations that the enquiry was being delayed, saying a judicial commission could not produce findings immediately and that the start of the process had been held up by changes to its composition. The commission is expected to begin recording depositions, with 19 people scheduled to appear by the end of the month.
