Kolkata: Engineering students at Jadavpur University last night lifted their 51-hour gherao of the vice-chancellor, pro vice-chancellor and registrar, but said they would start a relay hunger strike over the demand for revocation of the suspensions of two fourth-year students on ragging charges.
“The gherao has been withdrawn, but university authorities have not buckled under pressure to revoke the suspension order on the two students and we are firm on our decision,” pro Vice-Chancellor Siddhartha Dutta told PTI. Dutta, who was taken ill along with VC Souvik Bhattacharya last night during the gherao, said, “We are alright and are returning home.”
He said that the students had told them they would not continue with the gherao and would, from 9 P.M. tonight, begin a hunger strike instead in support of their demand.
“We did not call police to rescue us and left the matter to the good sense of the students,” the pro-VC said. The gherao was lifted hours after state education minister Bratya Basu condemned the students' method of agitation by confining the VC, pro-VC and the registrar.
Basu had described the students' action as being “inhuman” and added that the state government was totally against ragging and gherao at educational institutions. The students, affiliated to FETSU, had gheraoed the three top university functionaries since Wednesday afternoon.
They were demanding immediate withdrawal of suspension orders on the two students who were charged with ragging a first year student on August 25.
The university authorities' meeting on Wednesday with the students on the issue failed to produce any results, following which FETSU members kept the three top functionaries under gherao on campus at ‘Aurobindo Bhavan'. “There is no question of reconsidering their demand,” the VC said.
