JU student files complaint of verbal abuse and threats against section of boarders

kolkata: a postgraduate student from the film studies department of jadavpur university has filed a complaint with the institute's anti-ragging committee, claiming he was verbally abused and threatened by some engineering students in the men's hostel due to his recent facebook posts against the practice of ragging. a university official said the student filed a complaint of being verbally abused and threatened for several hours by four to five engineering students on tuesday evening. the student, aroni ghosh, lodged the complaint with the anti-ragging cell on wednesday. reacting to it, officiating vice-chancellor bhaskar gupta told pti, "a complaint has been received and we formed an inquiry committee. we have zero tolerance to any kind of abuse. if charges are proved, necessary action will be taken at the earliest." in his complaint, the second-year student said, "i went to the main hostel to attend a programme in the evening. some time later, two engineering students started badmouthing me using expletives." he added, "they were joined by three to four others and i was literally mobbed as they accused me of maligning all boarders about ragging and the unnatural death of a first-year student in august 2023 in the social media post." the student further said, "they forced me to write a fresh post on social media apologising for my earlier post. as they dictated, i drafted the lines of the fresh post and put it on social media. then they allowed me to leave but continued to abuse me using cuss words, demeaning my mother and my family." he told reporters that one of the tormentors was an accused in the august 2023 ragging case, but was yet to be prosecuted. on august 9, 2023, a first-year bengali honours student died after falling from the third floor of the same hostel following ragging and sexual harassment by some hostel boarders. he died hours later, on the morning of august 10. twelve students were arrested in connection with the incident. following the incident, ju authorities made arrangements for separate accommodation for first-year student boarders in a separate block.