WB Guv asks JU student delegation to maintain discipline

West Bengal Governor K N Tripathi today advised the agitating students of Jadavpur University (JU), of which he is the chancellor, to maintain discipline and restore its 'peaceful atmosphere' from Monday.

"A delegation of seven students of Jadavpur University met the chancellor. They put forth their grievances. The chancellor patiently listened to them and advised them to maintain discipline and restore peaceful atmosphere in the university from Monday (September 22)", a Rajbhavan official said.

JU students have been boycotting classes since Wednesday demanding Vice-chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti's resignation after a police crackdown on them.

Thousands of students, including from Presidency and Calcutta universities and other educational institutions took to the streets of the city during the day in a show of solidarity demanding an impartial probe into the alleged police lathicharge on JU students and the VC's resignation.

The march started from the state-run Nandan, the cultural hub of the city but the students were stopped by police at Mayo Road near the heart of the city. Following this the delegation went to meet the governor.

The protesters raised slogans against the police, the VC and the Trinamool Congress government. The march caused a gridlock in the central business district of the city.

Students had gheraoed the VC, registrar and other members of the executive council of JU on the intervening night of September 16 and September 17 demanding a fresh probe panel to investigate the alleged sexual harassment of a girl student inside the campus on August 28.

The VC had said he feared for his life and called the police, who intervened to break the gherao in the early hours of September 17 and arrested 35 students.

Many of them had later alleged that they were brutally beaten up by police inside the campus that night.

Refuting the allegations of the lathicharge, Kolkata police commissioner Surajit Kar Purakayastha had said on September 18 that the situation could have turned worse had police not intervened as there were reports of armed miscreants having entered the campus.

State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee had said the government would not tolerate student indiscipline under any circumstance and the impasse at JU could be solved through discussions and negotiations.