Students boycott classes, block Registrar & Pro-VC's entry

Jadavpur University students today did not allow the Registrar and Pro-Vice Chancellor to enter the campus and boycotted classes for the second consecutive day in protest against police action on them two days ago.

Registrar Pradip Ghosh, Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Siddhartha Datta, along with other officials, sat outside the university entrance gate with students blocking their entry and shouting slogans against the varsity authorities.

"They had called the police that day inside the campus and we were beaten up. The VC has no right to remain in office anymore and he must immediately resign. If they have to enter the campus they have to walk over our bodies," the students said.

The Registrar said since he was not being allowed to go to his office, he would wait outside till the agitation was over. "What can I do if they do not let me in?" he told reporters.

When contacted, Vice Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti, who has been advised bed rest for 4-5 days by doctors, refused to comment. On the intervening night of September 16 and 17, the students had gheraoed the university's VC, Registrar and other members of the Executive Council demanding a fresh probe panel on alleged sexual harassment of a girl student inside the campus last month.

The VC had said he feared for his life and called the police which freed him in the early hours of September 17 and also arrested 35 protesting students. Many of the students alleged they were brutally beaten up by the police inside the campus.