Kolkata, Sept. 17 -- The Calcutta High Court on Thursday placed the responsibility of ensuring students' safety on the state and university authorities, directing state universities to explain the security measures taken on their campuses following the recent violence at Jadavpur University.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge and Justice Arijit Banerjee directed the universities to file detailed affidavits by September 30. The matter will be taken up again on October 5.
The court also urged the state and university authorities not to view the public interest litigation as an adversarial proceeding, but to work towards preventing such incidents. During the hearing, the Chief Justice observed that if the state failed to discharge its responsibility, the court would step in.
The directions came while hearing an application by JU student Rishav Saha, in connection with his 2025 PIL seeking security measures across state universities. Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya referred to the August 19-20 incident at JU, alleging that outsiders entered the campus, damaged the main hostel gate and created fear among students.
The plea also alleged an attempt to set fire to Aurobindo Bhavan and claimed that security personnel failed to intervene.
The court had earlier, on September 26, 2025, stressed restricting unauthorised entry, strengthening CCTV surveillance, checking campus gates and deploying additional security personnel. JU had subsequently assured the court in January that it would endeavour to prevent such incidents.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.