The high court on Thursday agreed to hear an old case concerning the prevention of outsiders from entering university and college campuses, in the wake of the vandalism allegedly carried out by suspected ABVP supporters at Jadavpur University last week.
A division bench headed by acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty accepted the lawyer's plea and agreed to hear the case on August 31.
Lawyer Soumya Dasgupta told the court that Jadavpur University (JU) had been among the worst affected by the unchecked entry of outsiders onto campuses and urged the court to intervene immediately.
The lawyer referred to the events at JU on August 20, when suspected supporters of the RSS's student wing allegedly entered the campus along with outsiders who
had no connection with the university.
"Following a public interest litigation filed in 2025, this court had asked colleges and universities to prevent outsiders from entering their campuses," Dasgupta said.
He told the division bench: "As the Jadavpur University authorities have failed to prevent the entry of outsiders, I pray that I be allowed to incorporate this issue into the case already filed and that a date for hearing be fixed."
Dasgupta said he had filed a PIL last year highlighting the problem of unchecked entry of outsiders onto academic campuses across Bengal.
He again referred to the incidents of August 20, when suspected ABVP supporters allegedly entered the campus twice - at around 1am and again in the afternoon - following an alleged assault on their JU unit president, Nikhil Das.
The attackers allegedly threatened students who were inside Aurobindo Bhavan and hurled flaming rags at them. Students also accused the alleged attackers of making obscene gestures at women and threatening to outrage their modesty.
While drawing the court's attention to the latest campus violence, Dasgupta showed the bench a video clip of a fire on the campus that had been widely circulated on social media.
"We told the court how hordes of outsiders could enter the campus late at night and vandalise it. There is a girls' hostel on the campus. What will happen to their security if hooligans can storm the campus so easily? There are also staff quarters on the campus," Dasgupta said.
"We told the court that it needs to be found out under whose instructions the gates were opened. The court must issue a set of directions to ensure that this does not happen again."
Last year, the university told the court that CCTV cameras had been installed and additional guards deployed to strengthen security on the campus. In early January, a 32-member team of ex-Army personnel took charge of security at Jadavpur University, with their salaries being paid by the state government.
"Despite strengthening security, the university could not prevent what happened last week. In this context, we have sought directions from the court," Dasgupta said.