Suspension of 3 Presi students revoked, sit-in/fast lifted

The sit-in by a section of students of Presidency University was withdrawn Thursday evening after the authorities revoked suspension order of three students, issued for locking the main gate of the institute on September 10.

The indefinite hunger strike by six students, including the three suspended ones, was also called off, one of the agitating students said. The fast had began on the evening of January 19.

The governing body has withdrawn the suspension of three students with immediate effect after series of talks with student representatives and considering all aspects, Presidency University Vice-Chancellor Anuradha Lohia told PTI.

Lohia finally left the campus around 7.30 pm Thursday, more than 31 hours after she came to the campus on Wednesday noon and sat inside her chamber along with the registrar and senior officials as the students launched an indefinite sit-in outside her office.

To a question, Lohia said the three students have "expressed regret" for their conduct on September 10 to the authorities and promised that this will not be repeated.

"We had never come in the way of democratic movement of students which had taken place at Presidency several times. But we had taken exception to the act of preventing teachers and other staff from entering the institution they are so proud of and disrupting academic activities on a whole working day. I think now they have understood their mistake," the VC said.

Subho Biswas, one of the agitating students, said, "The authorities have assured us that the three students will get written communication about revocation of the suspension order next Monday," when the institute will reopen.

The VC stated earlier in the day that the inquiry committee had recommended action against 21 students for the September 10 incident.

"I had waived the suspension order for 18 students and instead issued them a note of caution. The suspension period of three students was also reduced from one year to six months," she said.

Presidency has unions of Students' Federation of India (SFI) and Independent Consolidation (IC).