Jharkhand High Court Raps BIT Mesra Over Dalit Student's Death, Grants ₹20 Lakh To Kin, Issues Guidelines To Prevent Ragging In Colleges

The Jharkhand High Court has awarded Rs.20 Lakh as compensation to be paid by BIT Mesra, Polytechnic College, to the parents of a 3rd semester student, who was allegedly subjected to casteist slurs in the name of Harijan/Dalit and multiple violent assaults leading to his death.Terming the incident as a "brutal assault", Justice Sanjay Prasad came down heavily on the College over their negligent attitude and poor administration, including their failure to maintain required discipline which resulted in the tragic death of the student. The court also pulled up the college for not building a proper boundary wall, failing to keep operational CCTV cameras, giving false information to parents of the deceased that he had consumed excessive alcohol in order to conceal the incident, and their abject failure to provide proper medical treatment to the deceased in the College Dispensary.It said, “Article 21 is the Right to Live is a fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution of India and this right to live cannot be taken away by the negligence and administrative failure of the concerned College Authorities or State Authorities concerned and there should not be any gap or casual approach.”The Court also issued preventive guidelines to be adopted by Government and Private College Authorities in order to prevent ragging and assaulting of students:Tie up with good government and private hospitals with ambulance facilitates;Establish dispensaries in all schools and colleges with one male and female doctor, equipped with necessary kits and medicines;All engineering and technical institutions to have at least two male and female doctors with proper first aid kits;Maintenance of necessary security personnel with functional CCTV cameras inside and outside the classrooms and at the main doors of hostels;Establishment of a grievance cell to monitor students and to maintain coordination between needy students and college administration;Creation of website or portal for redressal of grievances of students and parents; and,Preparation of Standard Operation Procedure to maintain security system for movement of students. It further said:“… this Court directs the Principal Secretary, Higher Technical Education, Govt. of Jharkhand and Director General of Police, Govt. of Jharkhand to prepare a comprehensive SOP for the entire Engineering and Medical Colleges and all the Technical Institutes imparting Graduate Degree and Post-Graduate Degree and Diploma to the students to prepare SOP by keeping medical dispensaries/medical hospital in the College premises near the hostel so that they may be able to get the timely treatment in case of emergency or need of an hour or for any other medical exigency or requirement".The court further directed the authorities to prepare SOP for the entire Technical Institutes, Medical, Engineering and Technical Institutes, MBA Colleges imparting education, with hostel facilities having over 1000 boys.The court directed the authorities to impress upon the Deemed Universities like BIT MESRA and others to have tie-up with the local administration and the reputed Government Hospitals as well as private Hospitals in the State or the concerned Districts where such Colleges are situated and running.BackgroundIt is alleged that the deceased student was "brutally assaulted" inside the college premises and later outside by a mob of 10–15 individuals with belts, shoes, and kicks in November 2024. It was alleged that he later became unconscious and the college authorities informed his family that he was unwell due to excessive wine consumption and allowed them to take him home. However, his condition worsened the following day and he subsequently passed away while receiving treatment.Based on witness statements and confessional records, four accused— who were current and former students of the college, were booked under BNS Section 103 (murder) r/w 3(5) (common intention) . They were also booked under provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for intentionally abusing and insulting a member of Scheduled Caste in public. The accused moved the High Court in separate appeals challenging the trail court's orders rejecting their bail pleas. At the outset, the Court noted that the College Administration had misled the parents of the deceased in order to conceal the assault committed by the appellants and had also refrained from naming any doctor for treating the deceased at the medical dispensary. It said:“… the College authorities have remained negligent and they have shown no control over the administration in the College and even the boundary wall of the College is not so satisfactorily constructed in the College, as not only the students of the College but also the staff and security personnels of the College are able to scale the boundary wall of the College campus. At some place, it shows that they have left the place insecure for the movement of the students and anti-...

Jharkhand High Court Raps BIT Mesra Over Dalit Student's Death, Grants ₹20 Lakh To Kin, Issues Guidelines To Prevent Ragging In Colleges

Saahas Arora

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