Death at Kolkata university puts spotlight on India’s illegal hazing rituals

Students have hit the streets to protest the death of a 17-year-old boy, alleged to be a victim of hazing at one of India’s top universities, as Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports

Outrage in Kolkata, India, following university student’s death (Screengrab / India Today)

Protests have spread to the streets from the lush campus of one of India’s most prestigious universities after a young man was found dead in Kolkata, said to be a victim of “hazing” – a kind of initiation practice banned in the country over two decades ago.

The last time the 17-year-old student in the eastern state of West Bengal spoke to his mother was minutes before his death when he begged her to “take him away” from Kolkata’s Jadavpur University hostel, according to a report in The Quint.

The victim was found naked in front of the main hostel of the university on 9 August just before midnight, according to several media reports, having apparently fallen from an upper-storey balcony. He was rushed to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries the next day.