The death of Prosenjit Sarkar, a fourth year Electrical Engineering student of NIT Durgapur, two days ago, has caused unrest amongst students in the campus. In our previous article published yesterday, we mentioned that Prosenjit died on the night of November 18 after giving the first paper of his 7th Semester exams.
The students have alleged negligence on the part of the Medical Unit on campus, and are now holding a candle light march to protest against the management. “The college has just shown their sympathies and offered condolences for Prosenjit’s untimely death. But they have not spoken to us about any concrete measure that they will be taking,” said a student in his fourth year.
The student’s father has filed a police complaint against the Medical Unit and its doctors at the Salanpur police station in Durgapur. “We wanted the administration to be held responsible, but they were not directly involved in the incident, hence they have not been named in the complaint. But a case against the MU has been filed,” said a student associated with the Student Gymkhana who accompanied the father.
The management has cancelled the ongoing semester examinations until further notice due to this incident. However, when PaGaLGuY spoke to Students Affairs Dean A. K. Bhattacharya, he said that the management will try to reschedule examinations from the coming Monday, 23rd November. “Many students have secured placement offers and we would want them to resume their academic activities. The committee which has been constituted will do its job and, the necessary steps will be taken only after they submit their report.” he added.
The students have demanded that the Director of NIT Durgapur, Prof. Tarkeshwar Kumar, must resign, and the Medical Officers Dr. B. Sarkar and Dr. S. Patra be suspended. They have further demanded a financial compensation from the institute for Prosenjit Sarkar’s family.
Update 1 (November 21, 5:30 PM): In response to a tweet about this issue, HRD Minister Smriti Irani tweeted that she has asked for all details about the matter from concerned authorities.
Update 2 (November 21, 10:45 PM): On a Facebook Page created by NITD students, the page admin updated that internet usage within NITD has been restricted in some hostels. Students are able to access websites hosted on the local network, but any website hosted outside the on-campus network is restricted.
Update 3: An article with updates of Sunday 22 Nov. is published here.