Sit-in in front of central office of Visva Bharati University against expulsion of 3 students
A section of Visva Bharati University students began a sit-in in front of the central office compound of the institute in Birbhum district late on Friday night against the recent expulsion of three fellow students.
Somnath Sow, Falguni Pan and Rupa Chakraborty were expelled for three years on Monday night for "disrupting the academic atmosphere in the university compound by assembling at Chhatimtala on January 9 this year and being involved in disorderly conduct in the name of protest."
They were suspended for two terms since the incident and were expelled on the basis of the report by the Enquiry Committee.
Sow, who is the spokesperson of the SFI Visva-Bharati unit, said the protestors have kept vigil outside the official residence of Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty and won''t allow him to move out till the suspension order was revoked.
"We will be here all night," he told reporters.
Sow had earlier alleged that he and the other two were targeted for protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens in the university, besides against "anti-student" decisions like the eviction of a student from the hostel on the charge of circulating a purported video of the VC during the Republic Day function in 2020.
A university official said the students suddenly started the sit-in at around 10 pm on Friday in the central office area and the personal secretary of the vice-chancellor was among the officials stuck inside.
Security personnel blocked the gate of the central office but protesting students, numbering around 30, continued to raise slogans.
After the sit-in began, another group rushed to the residence of the vice-chancellor but they were prevented by private security personnel leading to a scuffle, the official said.
The protestors alleged that Sow, Falguni Pan and Chakraborty have been expelled without being given a chance to defend themselves.
Sow has alleged that they were suspended also for speaking against the suspension of several faculty members by the university and against an alleged attack on left students by a right-wing group in the hostel in early 2020 during an anti-CAA movement.
The Visva-Bharati official, however, said the students were given a chance to explain their conduct before the enquiry panel twice.
But they did not offer any apology though they had used "inappropriate words" against the vice-chancellor and some other faculty members during the January 9 protest and also later, the official claimed.
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