Jailed Maoist leader may soon enrol for PhD after Bengal govt intervenes

Kolkata: Maoist leader Arnab Dam, who stood first in the PhD admission test in West Bengal’s Burdwan University, is likely to be enrolled soon since the state government intervened to address certain administrative issues that thwarted his admission.

Dam, an accused in cases of multiple attacks and killings, was being shifted from the correctional home in Hooghly district to Bardhaman and security will be provided for his visit to the university campus in the town, said Correctional Administration Minister Akhil Giri.

“We have decided to shift him from Hooghly to Burdwan Correctional Home,” the minister told PTI.

Dam is serving life sentence for his role in the 2010 attack on an Eastern Frontier Rifles camp at Sildah in Jhargram district.

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh supported Dam’s demand to be allowed to be enrolled for PhD in the university while clarifying his trial as per law in criminal cases should continue.

“We are against the politics of killing. We are not calling for the release of Arnab. But if someone wants to pursue a journey in higher education despite being lodged in jail, isn’t that a silver lining in society?” Ghosh said in a post in Bengali on X.

The former Rajya Sabha MP was responding to the anguish expressed by the mother of a Maoist violence victim for the initiative to facilitate the enrollment of Dam as a researcher at the university.

Dam, who was earlier lodged in a correctional home in Hooghly district, had secured over 75 per cent marks in the PhD admission test in History which was held at the campus on June 26 under strict security.

While the university started the process of admission of PhD researchers in other streams, the same for History was delayed over the last few days.

Interim Vice Chancellor Goutam Chandra said on Saturday: "We wish to get Arnab admitted to our university as a PhD scholar as he stood first in the admission test. But we have to follow certain UGC guidelines."

"We had sent a mail to the Correctional Home authorities. Once we get their positive nod, we will enrol him as a PhD scholar," he explained.

Dam, an alleged close associate of Maoist leader Kishanji who was killed in an encounter in 2011, is accused in several attack and murder cases in Jangal Mahal belt of south Bengal till 2010. He was arrested in 2012.

He had qualified in undergraduate and post-graduate exams while at the correctional home.

The Hooghly correctional home authorities had, in the last week of June, sent a letter to the university informing that an inmate wanted to appear for PhD admission test. After confirmation from the university, security measures were taken to escort him to the campus, so that he could appear for the test and return to his cell on June 26.

He cleared undergraduate and post-graduate exams from the correctional home.