Following the death of an undergraduate student at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose has reached out to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for identifying an appropriate technology solution to curb the menace of ragging on college and university campuses, a statement issued by Raj Bhavan said.
A first-year undergraduate student studying Bengali Hons. died on August 9 after allegedly being ragged and sexually harassed in a hostel of Jadavpur University, sparking massive outcry across the state. According to police, the 17-year-old was “disrobed, bullied and abused with homosexual slurs”, following which he fell from the second floor of the university’s main hostel, eventually leading to his death, reported The Indian Express.
“C V Ananda Bose, Hon’ble Governor of West Bengal and Chancellor of the universities contacted the Chairman of ISRO for identifying appropriate technology to effectively contain and eliminate the menace of ragging in the university campuses,” the statement said on Thursday night.
Bose has also held discussions with a Hyderabad-based firm over the issue.
“They are trying to develop an appropriate technology solution using multiple sources such as video analytics, image matching automatic target recognition and remote sensing,” the governor said in the statement, as quoted by PTI.
In connection with the student’s death, so far 13 people, including both current and former students, have been arrested. While 12 – six current students and six former students — have been booked for murder and ragging, a 2021 graduate has been booked for allegedly obstructing police from carrying out their duty.