A number of students of the Jadavpur University arts faculty, who are supporters of SFI, said on Sunday they are opposed to the installation of CCTV cameras on the campus and at the hostels.
SFI supporters run the arts faculty students’ union.
The students said this at a time when the death of a first-year student, allegedly a victim of ragging, has triggered a debate on whether the presence of CCTV cameras could have helped police ascertain the course of events faster or prevented the tragedy by acting as a deterrent.
The student from Nadia was allegedly thrown from a second-floor balcony of Jadavpur University Main Hostel late on Wednesday. He died early on Thursday.
Sources on the campus said JU officials sounded out students on whether they were agreeable to the idea of installing CCTV cameras at the hostels, considering that there is a dearth of security personnel.
The SFI supporters, on behalf of the Jadavpur University local committee of the organisation, called a press conference to demand for justice in the wake of
the death of the first-year student.
When The Telegraph sought to know whether they were in favour of installation of
CCTV cameras, Subhadip Bandopadhyay, a member of the SFI local committee,
said: “CCTV cannot prevent crime.”
Aafreen Begum, another member of the SFI local committee, said: “We are opposed to any surveillance through CCTV. A student has died. We admit that he died because of ragging. We want justice for the student. Just to divert attention from this, discussions have been started on CCTV surveillance, which we do not support.”
