NUJS student’s death: Family cries foul

The terrace door was supposed to be locked,but it was found that the boys often broke the locks to gain access to the terrace. “Boys often sat on the terrace,” said one of the security guards here.

Wasim’s mother Iftekha Ansari said,“He had vertigo. He was uncomfortable looking down from the third floor. How could he have stood at the edge of the sixth floor?”

She added that there was no pressure on Wasim. “We even gave him the option to quit law if he did not want to continue with it,but he insisted he would,” she said.

NUJS registrar Dr S C Mukhopadhyay said it was difficult to say how Wasim died. “It can at most be called an unnatural death,which means it can be an intentional or an unintentional death. But of course,the post mortem did not find mala fide intention. In other words,not a murder,” he said.

The university authorities were not very happy with some of the reports in the media. “The media asks all the questions but when they print it they are absolutely selective to the detriment of people,” said Mukhopadhyay.

Asked if Wasim ended his life because of academic pressure,he said,“Everyone is under pressure. Pressure is something that professional universities have.”

Dr Anirban Majumder,chairman,UG council and a faculty member at NUJS,said,“Wasim was okay academically. He was as normal as any other student.”

Subrata Bandopadhyay,DC (HQ),Bidnannagar Commissionerate,said a case of unnatural death has been started.

One of his batch mates said it was probable that Wasim slipped and fell. “The hostel terrace has a low wall and the floor is mossy. Minutes before he had fallen,he had asked a junior to meet him for a game of table tennis. He was never bothered about faltering academically,” he said.