17-year-old Swapnadip Kundu was from Nadia district and was a first-year Bengali honors student at Jadavpur University (JU), Kolkata. A few days ago he fell from the second-floor balcony of the JU main hostel. The incident occurred late on 9th August 2023, and he died while receiving treatment early on 10th August 23. It is alleged that he was being ragged and harassed by seniors. On the night of August 9, at around 9 pm, the student was summoned to Room No. 70 - on the second floor of the hostel building - by his seniors. He was then made to walk down the corridor of the second floor. While he was walking, he was allegedly disrobed by his seniors leaving him naked. To escape bullying, the victim first went to Room No. 65 and tried to lock himself, but couldn't. He then ran from one room to another on the second floor as senior students chased him. They insulted him and made homophobic slurs at him. The student went through the ordeal for about two hours after which he fell from the second-floor balcony of the hostel building, between Room No. 59 and 68, around 11.45 pm, according to the investigators. The investigators have, however, not been able to figure out how the 17-year-old ended up falling from the second floor of the hostel building. Some residents of the hostel have said that the 17-year-old told them that he was not gay. What provoked him to say so is now the focus of our investigation. Police have also found that he was sexually molested. So far, police have arrested 13 people. Six current students and six former students — been booked for murder and ragging. According to police, Sourabh Chowdhury, a 2022 graduate from Mathematics Department, is the main accused. Chowdhury, who lived in the hostel illegally, was the first to be arrested on August 11.  He has been booked for allegedly obstructing police from carrying out their duty. Kolkata Police got hold of a WhatsApp group created by one of the arrested accused to misdirect cops. Probe also revealed that the arrested accused had planned to misdirect police so that the ragging part could be concealed. The police questioned the cook of the hostel to find out more about the 9th August incident. Two other students of the varsity have been summoned to appear before the investigators for questioning in connection with their probe. According to a hostel resident, several students, who after passing out from the university, continue to occupy the hostel rooms. “They are powerful. There are no restrictions on their entry into the hostel. There was a dedicated room for these former students where they used to call freshers to introduce themselves. The 24X7 toll-free helpline — 1800 345 5678 — was launched by chief minister Mamta Banerjee around two weeks after the death of a first-year Jadavpur University student. Bengal's anti-ragging helpline that came into being on Tuesday evening got around 30 calls in the first 24 hours from across the state and most of them were from anxious parents who wanted to check whether the number worked. West Bengal Human Rights Commission is investigating the case. NBHRC official had visited the JU campus a number of limes to probe the death, collected information and spoken to JU officials and teachers. Sources said the team was not satisfied with lack of surveillance on the campus. The findings also pointed out that JU officials had failed to clarify why enough measures were not taken to follow UGC guidelines on ragging.

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