"Covering-up" ragging incident: Calcutta HC chides IIT Director
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Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court chided the Director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur on Thursday for the second time in weeks. The court slammed the official for attempting to cover up the institution's inaction on a ragging incident, which involved the death of a student inside the campus, NDTV reported.
When the college read out a report on the action it took over a complaint on the ragging incident, the court asked whether the college indicated what action had been taken in the report. The court wondered why the Director was "giving a lecture" and questioned the institution on just warning their students as the action was taken.
The court observed that though it sought the actions done, no action was taken. The court reminded the institution that it had asked it to name the students involved in the ragging incident.
To this, the institution's advocate replied that they couldn't identify those involved.
Expressing its strong disapproval, the court said, "What is going on? Your client is playing with the court. Let the Director be present at the next hearing... The Director is trying to cover up things here," NDTV quoted. The court also summoned the Director for the next hearing on December 20.
The Director is "lecturing" but could not name the students involved, it said. "What kind of Director is he?" the court asked, adding that had the institution taken measures after the complaints filed in February, the death would not have happened.
After the decomposing body of 23-year-old Faizan Ahmed, a mechanical engineering student from Assam, was found in a hostel room on October 14, police said that he died by suicide. But the family of the deceased alleged the involvement of ragging and said that his complaints were ignored by the IIT Kharagpur's authorities.
The Calcutta HC had demanded a report from the Director of the institution on steps taken on complaints of ragging- filed in February- and wanted to know whether the Supreme Court guidelines on ragging were followed, NDTV reported.
