‘Insider’ role, security lapses to take centre stage at JU VC meet today
Times of India | 24 August 2026
Kolkata: Discussion on security lapses, suspension of ‘insiders’ who assisted the ‘outsiders’ to enter and attack Jadavpur University (JU) in the early hours on Thursday till the probe is complete, protecting autonomy and resisting saffronisation will be some of the demands from students and teachers that will be placed at the stakeholders’ meeting with vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee on Monday.
The all-stakeholder meeting will be held at the committee room number 1 of Aurobindo Bhavan on Monday at 3 pm to address some recent issues related to the campus.
Several CCTV footage and videos circulated on social media have shown that the right-wing mob encountered no resistance at gate 4 while they were entering around 12.37 am on Thursday. The footage also captured former JU VC Buddhadeb Sau entering through a side gate around the same time and standing near gate 4 as the mob vandalised the premises. Sau, an active member of an RSS-backed teachers’ organisation, was with ABVP central working committee member Subhabrata Adhikary at the gate around 1.07 am. Students said that not only the former VC, there is a footage capturing chemistry dept research scholar in the mob and another recent pass-out who was found burning flags and banners.
Sau had said, “Just because I was seen in the CCTV does not indicate that I was part of the vandalism. An attempt is being made to spread a false narrative against me to incite a section of the students.” Adhikary earlier said, “I have no involvement with the mob or any kind of vandalism. I went there to ensure that no untoward incident happens.”
Research scholar Fazle Wakil said, “The internal university members who have been identified from the CCTV footage should be kept under temporary suspension till the probe is over so that they cannot influence the probe. The former VC must be removed from the position of the chairperson of the student grievance redressal cell.”
Comparative literature student Abhinaba Basu said, “It is clear from the CCTV footage that the mob faced no resistance at gate 4 and the ex-servicemen deployed at the gate were reluctant to stop the outsiders. The security lapse must be probed and the role of the guards must come under scanner. JU must take accountability of the lapses and a report must be made public to students. We will also demand for students’ union elections.”
English dept student Indranuj Ray said, “We feel there is external political pressure on the members of the probe committee for which the chairman of the panel stepped down before the probe began. Student representatives should also be part of the committee to ensure that the probe is impartial. We will raise this issue at the stakeholders’ meeting.”
International relations student Tirtharaj Bardhan said, “Our demand to the VC will be to prevent saffronisation and protect autonomy.” Power engineering student Aliv Das said, “We will raise the question of how the mob entered and also demand accountability. We will urge the university for legal assistance on the FIRs by ABVP.”
JUTA general secretary Rajyeswar Sinha said, “We will ask the university to evaluate the loopholes in the internal security and administrative areas and take some speedy actions. We will also appeal to the students to maintain a healthy academic environment.” ABRSM secretary Bhaskar Sardar said, “We will ask the university to probe how an illegal general body meeting was being conducted when there is no union.”