Yesterday, HRD Minister Smriti Irani mentioned on Twitter that the MHRD had asked for an explanation from concerned authorities regarding the death of fourth year student Prosenjit Sarkar at NIT Durgapur. Today morning, Irani tweeted again stating that MHRD officials would be visiting NIT Durgapur tomorrow, Monday, November 23, 2015.
Meanwhile at NITD, director Dr. Tarkeshwar Kumar chaired a meeting between officials and student representatives after avoiding talking to students for three days. The meeting, held on Sunday Nov. 22, was in order to discuss the protest and demands that students had put forth after the incident.
The students had alleged that the MU’s negligence led to Prosenjit’s untimely death. During the meeting, Dr. Kumar did not hold the Medical Unit (MU) responsible for the incident, instead referring the matter to the committee that has been set up to investigate it.
“The institute has set up an investigation committee to look into the incident, which will submit its report in 7 days. We also expect the post mortem report within 14 days. Once we receive these reports, we will be in a position to say whether the MU and the doctors were responsible or not,” Prof. A. K. Bhattacharya, Student Welfare Dean, NITD, told PaGaLGuY.
On Nov. 19, Friday, the institute’s authorities had put the ongoing semester exams on hold until further notice. After Sunday’s meeting, Prof. D. K. Mondal, Dean (Academic Affairs), put out a notice that all academic activities would resume with immediate effect, including exams. Students, on the other hand, are unwilling to resume and plan to boycott the exams as a mark of protest. “Whatever happens, we will not be appearing for our semester exams. We will continue to protest until we get justice,” a third year student mentioned on condition of anonymity.
One of the students’ demands has been to provide compensation to Prosenjit’s family. “The institute is collecting donations from the faculty and students to hand over to the family as compensation,” mentioned Prof. Bhattacharya. Currently, the students have aimed to raise Rs 1 lakh for this goal.
UPDATE: MHRD OFFICIALS REACH NIT- DURGAPUR CAMPUS AT 9 P.M.
A MEETING WITH OFFICIALS AND STUDENTS HAS BEEN SCHEDULED FOR TOMORROW.
PaGalGuY has been consistently following this incident and the aftermath from the beginning. You can read our past articles below:
Nov. 19: NIT Durgapur student dies on campus, students protest against ‘apathy’ by authorities
Nov. 20 (With updates from Nov. 21): NIT Durgapur students hold candlelight march; (Updated) HRD Minister Responds to tweet; Internet access restricted at NIT-D
We shall continue to write about the ongoing updates regarding this incident.