KOLKATA: Two students of Jadavpur University were molested on campus by a drunken poet, who had come to attend a seminar on Wednesday afternoon. The accused, Arup Ghosh, writes for Bangla magazines. He allegedly sloshed alcohol on the girls and then molested one of them after pretending to fall at her feet. Jadavpur University, which has been dogged by various controversies and allegations of ragging in recent years, has been trying to shed its tag of an unfriendly campus.The authorities called it a “freak incident”, but the molestation, in a crowded area in clear daylight, has shocked students and teachers alike. The girls hail from Aizawl and are postgraduate students at JU.
On Wednesday, they were on their way to the post office on the campus when they passed by Ghosh. He had just emerged from the Bengali department building after attending a ‘kavi sammelan’ and was allegedly swigging alcohol from a bottle he was carrying with him. When he saw the girls, he allegedly splattered liquor from on them. As the students stood petrified, unable to understand what was happening, he rushed to one of them and fell at her feet.”I am terribly sorry for this. Please forgive me,” Ghosh said. The girl said he was merely play-acting. Ghosh held on to her feet and gradually moved his hands upwards. The girl and her mates screamed. It alerted other students, who grabbed Ghosh by the collar and dragged him to the office of the registrar at Aurobindo Bhavan, some 800 metres away.”One of the girls was drenched in alcohol and was weeping inconsolably. Ghosh was in an inebriated state,” said a second-year English honours student who had just come out of her class. – TOI
