Kolkata : Protesting students of Jadavpur University plan to meet West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi with their demands at the culmination of a mammoth rally Saturday, a student said.
As the campus continued to simmer with slogans and protest cries, the angry students Friday blocked the entry of the registrar and pro-vice chancellor, demanding the resignation of the two and Vice Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarty following an alleged police assault two days back.
“We will not allow them to enter until our demands are met.
“We have unanimously demanded the resignation of the vice chancellor and a fresh probe into the molestation of the woman student last month and we intend to meet the governor to press for our demands and apprise him of the situation,” Soumyajit Rajak, an M.Phil student at the varsity and a member of Students Federation of India (SFI) state committee, told IANS.
Rajak said around 1,000 participants from various sections of society will walk in the mammoth rally or ‘maha michil’ expected to start at 2 p.m. from Nandan in the central part of the city.
“We will walk till Raj Bhavan and our aim is to meet the governor,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court Friday directed the West Bengal government and the university to file affidavits stating steps being taken to restore normalcy in the varsity where students have boycotted classes and were staging protests following the police crackdown.
Many students were hospitalised after police allegedly beat them Wednesday as they were protesting outside the vice chancellor’s office, seeking a fresh inquiry into the sexual harassment of a student in the campus last month.
The police crackdown has been widely condemned, with students and political parties demanding Chakrabarty’s removal as the vice chancellor.
Both Police Commissioner Surajit Kar Purakayastha and Education Minister Partha Chatterjee have refuted claims that the students were baton charged or assaulted.