A court in Kolkata granted bail to Jadavpur University alumnus and researcher Hindol Majumdar on Monday (August 18, 2025). He is accused of plotting an attack on West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu’s convoy at the varsity campus on March 1, 2015.
Mr. Majumdar, who was away in Spain when the alleged attack took place, was arrested on August 14 by Kolkata Police on arrival at New Delhi airport. On August 15, the researcher was produced before a court in Kolkata, where the chief police prosecutor drew parallels between the attack on the American Centre in Kolkata in 2002 and the attack on the minister’s car, saying that the accused need not be present at the site of the crime to plot an attack.
The arrest triggered a major reaction in political circles and from the researcher’s parents, both of whom taught at Jadavpur University.
During proceedings before the court on Monday, the police submitted Mr. Majumdar’s WhatsApp chat history showing interactions with students in support of their claim that the accused plotted the attack on the minister’s car. The magistrate wanted to know why the Information Technology Act, 2000, had not been employed against the accused.
Establish conspiracy
Defence counsel Gopal Halder said that in order to establish criminal conspiracy and book his client under the IT Act, the police were required to ascertain through a forensic laboratory that the conversations in question originated from the accused’s devices.
The court granted bail to Mr. Majumdar on a surety of ₹1,000. The researcher was released later in the day.
While arguments were in progress, alumni, students, teachers, researchers, and non-teaching staff from Jadavpur University organised a rally demanding his release. The procession was led by the Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (JUTA).
On March 1, 2025, Jadavpur students had surrounded State’s Education Minister Bratya Basu’s vehicle inside the University. The minister’s car ran over a student who suffered an eye injury
Crackdown on protesting teachers
The arrest of Majumdar kicked up a public storm on how police could link him to the incident when he was not present. Civil rights groups have approached the West Bengal Human Rights Commission over the issue. Similar questions were raised by a court on charges framed against a teacher, Rezaul Haque who also got bail.
Mr. Haque was granted bail by the Bidhannagar Subdivisional Court on Monday. He was arrested from Malda for plotting to incite violence during a protest rally. Teachers allege that arrests were designed to quash the rally.
A section of teachers grouped under the Chakrihara Yogya Shiksha Mancha had called for a march to the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) headquarters at Bidhannagar on Monday.
During the day Chandannagar Police Commissionerate also detained Suman Biswas, one of the organisers of the march. Mr. Biswas, who said he was detained at a railway station, said that the police were attempting to foil the march. The appointments of about 25,000 teachers and non teaching staff were annulled after the Supreme Court, in an order on April 3, 2025, set aside the entire panel of recruitment conducted by the WBSSC in 2016.
Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, said that police officials involved in excesses should be prosecuted.
Published – August 18, 2025 11:25 pm IST
