Medal-declining Jadavpur student did not misbehave, says Bengal governor

Days after Jadavpur University student Geetashri Sarkar created a flutter by declining to accept her best student award and degree, West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi Saturday rejected suggestions that her gesture was misbehaviour.

"Every person has his own way of protesting and the girl in a very polite manner declined to accept the medal. It is her right whether she accepts the medal or declines it. She chose to decline, but I would assert that she did not misbehave," Tripathi, who is also the Jadavpur University chancellor, told media persons.

The varsity's 59th convocation Dec 24 was marred with slogan-shouting and black flag demonstrations as large number of students boycotted the event or refused to accept their degrees.

One of the leaders of the student protests seeking removal of Vice Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti for ordering a police crackdown on the students, Sarkar, of the Bengali department, declined to accept her degree and medal from Tripathi at the convocation.

Tripathi, however, rubbished Sarkar's assertions that he had asked her get out of the convocation venue.

"I did not say get out, rather just told her to get down from the dais as she was not willing to accept the medal. I asked her thrice to take it but when she refused, I just told her to go back," he added.

There have been mixed reactions over Sarkar's gesture. While her schoolteacher father Gajendra Nath Sarkar and state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim have disproved the act, she has found a supporter in Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee who endorsed her "non-violent" way of protesting.