Jadavpur University Student Arrested Over March 1 Campus Vandalism – News18

Last Updated:March 13, 2025, 11:56 IST

A Jadavpur University student has been arrested in connection with the March 1 campus unrest, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to two.

Police have arrested a Jadavpur University (JU) student in connection with the March 1 unrest and vandalism on campus, bringing the total number of arrests in the case to two. A leader of the JU SFI unit told PTI on Wednesday that Soumyadip Mahata, a philosophy student, was summoned to Jadavpur police station to record his statement regarding the violence during the TMC-backed West Bengal College and University Professors’ Union AGM, which was attended by West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu.

During the incident, a group of students formed a human chain around Basu’s car, attempting to block his exit and demanding an immediate discussion on the long-pending student union elections. As the minister’s vehicle moved past the human chain, two students were injured. The protests escalated, leading to the arson of the TMC non-teaching staff’s education wing office, while several hoardings and festoons were put up across the campus.

A Students’ Federation of India (SFI) leader claimed that Mahata was a leftist student activist but not affiliated with the federation. He added that the SFI and other student protestors would hold a general body meeting on Thursday to discuss their next course of action following the arrest.

“While the university authorities are assuring students that cases against protestors—who were only demanding student union elections after five years—will be withdrawn, our students are being arrested. This cannot go on,” he said.

A Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (JUTA) spokesperson confirmed Soumyadip’s arrest on Wednesday.

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Earlier, on March 2, police arrested a former JU student from his rented flat in South Kolkata on charges of being present on campus during the protests and arson and allegedly participating in the vandalism. The ex-student, originally from Birbhum, currently works at an IT firm in Salt Lake.