Deceased JU student’s father alleges foul play in daughter’s death, NCW writes to Kolkata Police

The father of deceased Jadavpur University English Honours student Anamika Mandal has decided to file a police complaint, alleging foul play in the unnatural death of his only daughter, who was found unconscious in a pond inside the campus on the night of September 11 and declared dead at a nearby hospital.

The grieving father, who performed her last rites on Sunday, told reporters at his Nimta home that he was puzzled why Anamika, who didn’t know how to swim, would go to the edge of the waterbody inside the campus around 10 pm.

Anamika’s father Arnab Mandal said a professor handed him her mobile phone and hair clip, but could not identify the student who collected the items from the pondside and deposited them with him.

“Her glasses were, however, not found,” Mandal noted.

Expressing suspicion, he said, “I wonder whether Anamika was deliberately pushed into the water by someone. My daughter did not consume alcohol. If she really did that night, someone conspired against her. I want police to question her friends present at the site on that fateful night.”

Informing his decision to lodge a police complaint, he said, “Initially, we had said that we don’t suspect anyone for her death, but certain questions haunted our minds afterwards. We want the truth to come out.”

Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women has taken suo motu cognisance of the incident and written to the Kolkata Police commissioner for a thorough investigation.

NCW chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar, in a letter to the commissioner, asked for an action-taken report within three days.

In a post on X, the NCW said, “The commission has taken suo motu cognisance of a disturbing media report titled ‘Woman Student Found Dead Inside Jadavpur University’, wherein a 21-year-old third-year English department student was found dead on a campus lake. Hon’ble Chairperson Smt. Vijaya Rahatkar has written to the Commissioner of Police, Kolkata, seeking a thorough and impartial investigation, forensic examination, and post-mortem report, along with an inquiry into the role of university authorities in ensuring campus safety.”