Headlines
Two held for Jadavpur molestation, governor questions students' silence
Kolkata, March 23
Two engineering students of
Jadavpur University were arrested on Monday for allegedly molesting a
first-year student, police said.
The arrests came on a day when
West Bengal Governor and university chancellor Keshari Nath Tripathi
questioned the silence of students and a section of faculty members who
had participated in a major agitation against the university authorities
over a similar molestation case last year.
"We have arrested one
third-year and one fourth-year student of the engineering department in
connection with the alleged molestation of a first-year student of the
Sanskrit department on March 20," Deputy Commissioner of Police Santosh
Pandey said.
The student filed a police complaint on Saturday,
alleging she was assaulted and molested by three seniors after she
refused to allow her bag to be checked while entering a festival
organised by the Faculty of Engineering Technology Students' Union at
the campus.
Earlier on Monday, two of the three accused issued an
open letter stating that they were willing to court arrest to ensure a
thorough investigation into the case, and said they were ready to
"extend all possible help" to ensure "complete justice" to the
complainant.
"As gender activists, we want the complainant to get
speedy justice. We are willing to extend all possible help to ensure
complete justice to her. In the process of ensuring justice to her, we
are willing to get arrested on a primary basis to ensure all legal
procedures are initiated," they said in the letter.
Referring to
last year's sustained protests by the students over a similar
molestation, Tripathi questioned their silence this time.
"Why
are they (students and teachers) silent? Why don't they come forward?
Why don't they help police in catching those students who are guilty of
molestation?" Tripathi told the media here.
A similar molestation
case in the university last year had snowballed into a major
controversy when vice chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti called for a police
crackdown on students agitating for an independent probe into the
molestation.
Sustained protests by the students and a section of
teachers later led to Chakarabarti being asked to step down by West
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.