Condemn the Brutal Police Action against the Students in Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
Condemn the Brutal Police Action against the Students in Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India
The Issue
To
The Honourable Governor,
Government of West Bengal,
West Bengal, India
Dated, 18 September 2014
Respected Sir,
We are deeply shocked at the brutal police action at midnight on 17 September, 2014 against the students who were on a peaceful sit-in demonstration inside Jadavpur University campus. For the last few days, students of Jadavpur University have been protesting against the way JU administration has been handling the issue of the alleged molestation of a girl student inside the campus during the Fest on 28 August. One lady member of the Internal Complaints Committee(ICC), who herself reportedly declared herself to be a close relative of a West Bengal minister, asked objectionable questions to the victim such as what dress did she wear on that evening and whether she was drunk at that time. The victim herself objected to such queries and demanded that that lady be removed from the ICC. There is a clear stipulation in the Supreme Court that if the victim feels that any member of the ICC is biased and that she will not get natural justice from a committee of which she is a member, then that member would have to be removed and a new one ‘committed to the cause of women or a person familiar with issues relating to sexual harassment’ (See: Sexual Harassment Act, 2013) be brought in. The interim Vice-Chancellor Mr. Abhijit Chakraborty, by refusing to act in accordance with the demand of the victim for natural justice, has actually violated Supreme Court directives.
The agitating students also condemned such objectionable questions and demanded the removal of that member from the team and the inclusion of two external juries in the probe team comprising a lawyer and a psychologist—a demand that was turned down by Mr. Abhijit Chakraborty, the interim Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University. Instead, the JU authorities released a ‘code of conduct’ and declared the formation of a new group meant for surveillance inside the campus. This infuriated the students and the sit-in-demonstration was converted into a gherao of the members when the meeting of the JU Executive Council (EC) was on. It is reported that although some members of the EC were against police intervention, the interim Vice- Chancellor sought police action to break the demonstration and lift the gherao. Many teachers, who had been mediating between the students and the authorities, told the Vice Chancellor not to bring police inside as that would deteriorate the situation further. However, the interim Vice Chancellor remained adamant in his stand.
Thus a huge police force entered the Jadavpur University campus at the call of the interim Vice Chancellor after mid-night on 17th September 2014, and a large number of students—boys and girls—were cruelly beaten up by the police and some unidentified plainclothes-men, alleged to be the ruling party-goons and outsiders, with batons to break a peaceful sit-in demonstration. More than thirty students were injured and hospitalized, girls were deliberately molested by the baton-wielding force and there was no police woman in the team. About thirty six students including one girl student were illegitimately arrested and taken to the local police station and later to Lalbazar Central lock-up. That reminds us of the atrocious police action in 2005 on hunger-striker students at the call of the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar under the previous Left-front Government led by Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharjee.
Such an odious assault committed by the police and the hooligans would put to shame any normal human being. Part of that was caught in the media camera and that is for all to see in order to believe. What was the reaction of the interim Vice-Chancellor? That has also to be seen to be believed. When the students of his own university were brutally beaten up and pushed to the floor, kicked repeatedly and bleeding, he claimed that it was the students who had beaten up the police force. The police forces, however, did not claim being beaten up by the students. It was also seen on TV channels that all lights in that place were suddenly switched off all at a time. When asked, the interim Vice-Chancellor accused the students of doing damage to the switch board by throwing stones from outside. The reality is that lights could be switched off only from inside where the main meter box was; it was switched off in order to facilitate the barbaric act accompanied by sexual harassment to take place in darkness hidden from media glare. The interim Vice-Chancellor even tried to defend his position by accusing the students of attempting to murder him. Here is a person who is shameless enough to tell blatant lies and even accuses his students of trying to kill him. Such remarks deserve universal condemnation.
Jadavpur University is one of the premier universities of India and it has a rich academic and cultural heritage. Born in the early 20th century during the heyday of the Anti-Partition movement during colonial rule, it was a centre of national education. It had been a place not only for high academic attainments, but also for the birth and dissemination of free thinking, cultural activities, people’s movements, activism of different types and a centre of protest and dissident voices. Many a time in the past, the students of this university stood in the forefront of just struggles and took to the streets. That precisely is the reason why the students of this institution of higher learning have always become the targets of the powers-that-be to whom dissident voices are unacceptable and need to be curbed.
The whole episode shows not just the total isolation of the JU authorities from the student community but also betrays the total inefficiency of the administration in dealing with agitating students. A few years back, a section of the teachers of Jadavpur University issued a statement stating that JU had become a police university in view of the presence of so many plain-clothes policemen/women round-the-clock within the campus; the latest JU decision to form a separate surveillance group only shows how serious the situation has become and how human rights are being trampled regularly and free speech and movement curbed.
We hold that the interim Vice-Chancellor, who instead of giving protection to the students, calls the police force to beat his own students black and blue, one who is totally unable and inefficient to deal with a student agitation, a person who disdainfully violates the guidelines of the Supreme Court, does not have the moral right to occupy the Chair.
We demand immediate removal of Mr. Abhijit Chakraborty, the interim Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University.
We vehemently condemn this revengeful act of JU administration and the police atrocity against the students of Jadavpur University on 17th September 2014 and demand an immediate judicial probe of this horrifying incident as well as exemplary punishment of all the culprits including the police personnel and the hoodlums.
We strongly condemn the present West Bengal government without whose green signal, the JU authorities would not have acted in the way they did.
We also demand the immediate withdrawal of all police forces and intelligence officials in plain-clothes from the campus.
Given below are the links of videos that corroborate the fact of the police atrocities on a peaceful students’ demonstration in Jadavpur University campus after midnight on 17 September 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Me2cR-_oCk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gDhMKohE2E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVG_zdD485w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-9Ua0-hHEA
The Issue
To
The Honourable Governor,
Government of West Bengal,
West Bengal, India
Dated, 18 September 2014
Respected Sir,
We are deeply shocked at the brutal police action at midnight on 17 September, 2014 against the students who were on a peaceful sit-in demonstration inside Jadavpur University campus. For the last few days, students of Jadavpur University have been protesting against the way JU administration has been handling the issue of the alleged molestation of a girl student inside the campus during the Fest on 28 August. One lady member of the Internal Complaints Committee(ICC), who herself reportedly declared herself to be a close relative of a West Bengal minister, asked objectionable questions to the victim such as what dress did she wear on that evening and whether she was drunk at that time. The victim herself objected to such queries and demanded that that lady be removed from the ICC. There is a clear stipulation in the Supreme Court that if the victim feels that any member of the ICC is biased and that she will not get natural justice from a committee of which she is a member, then that member would have to be removed and a new one ‘committed to the cause of women or a person familiar with issues relating to sexual harassment’ (See: Sexual Harassment Act, 2013) be brought in. The interim Vice-Chancellor Mr. Abhijit Chakraborty, by refusing to act in accordance with the demand of the victim for natural justice, has actually violated Supreme Court directives.
The agitating students also condemned such objectionable questions and demanded the removal of that member from the team and the inclusion of two external juries in the probe team comprising a lawyer and a psychologist—a demand that was turned down by Mr. Abhijit Chakraborty, the interim Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University. Instead, the JU authorities released a ‘code of conduct’ and declared the formation of a new group meant for surveillance inside the campus. This infuriated the students and the sit-in-demonstration was converted into a gherao of the members when the meeting of the JU Executive Council (EC) was on. It is reported that although some members of the EC were against police intervention, the interim Vice- Chancellor sought police action to break the demonstration and lift the gherao. Many teachers, who had been mediating between the students and the authorities, told the Vice Chancellor not to bring police inside as that would deteriorate the situation further. However, the interim Vice Chancellor remained adamant in his stand.
Thus a huge police force entered the Jadavpur University campus at the call of the interim Vice Chancellor after mid-night on 17th September 2014, and a large number of students—boys and girls—were cruelly beaten up by the police and some unidentified plainclothes-men, alleged to be the ruling party-goons and outsiders, with batons to break a peaceful sit-in demonstration. More than thirty students were injured and hospitalized, girls were deliberately molested by the baton-wielding force and there was no police woman in the team. About thirty six students including one girl student were illegitimately arrested and taken to the local police station and later to Lalbazar Central lock-up. That reminds us of the atrocious police action in 2005 on hunger-striker students at the call of the Vice-Chancellor and Registrar under the previous Left-front Government led by Mr. Buddhadev Bhattacharjee.
Such an odious assault committed by the police and the hooligans would put to shame any normal human being. Part of that was caught in the media camera and that is for all to see in order to believe. What was the reaction of the interim Vice-Chancellor? That has also to be seen to be believed. When the students of his own university were brutally beaten up and pushed to the floor, kicked repeatedly and bleeding, he claimed that it was the students who had beaten up the police force. The police forces, however, did not claim being beaten up by the students. It was also seen on TV channels that all lights in that place were suddenly switched off all at a time. When asked, the interim Vice-Chancellor accused the students of doing damage to the switch board by throwing stones from outside. The reality is that lights could be switched off only from inside where the main meter box was; it was switched off in order to facilitate the barbaric act accompanied by sexual harassment to take place in darkness hidden from media glare. The interim Vice-Chancellor even tried to defend his position by accusing the students of attempting to murder him. Here is a person who is shameless enough to tell blatant lies and even accuses his students of trying to kill him. Such remarks deserve universal condemnation.
Jadavpur University is one of the premier universities of India and it has a rich academic and cultural heritage. Born in the early 20th century during the heyday of the Anti-Partition movement during colonial rule, it was a centre of national education. It had been a place not only for high academic attainments, but also for the birth and dissemination of free thinking, cultural activities, people’s movements, activism of different types and a centre of protest and dissident voices. Many a time in the past, the students of this university stood in the forefront of just struggles and took to the streets. That precisely is the reason why the students of this institution of higher learning have always become the targets of the powers-that-be to whom dissident voices are unacceptable and need to be curbed.
The whole episode shows not just the total isolation of the JU authorities from the student community but also betrays the total inefficiency of the administration in dealing with agitating students. A few years back, a section of the teachers of Jadavpur University issued a statement stating that JU had become a police university in view of the presence of so many plain-clothes policemen/women round-the-clock within the campus; the latest JU decision to form a separate surveillance group only shows how serious the situation has become and how human rights are being trampled regularly and free speech and movement curbed.
We hold that the interim Vice-Chancellor, who instead of giving protection to the students, calls the police force to beat his own students black and blue, one who is totally unable and inefficient to deal with a student agitation, a person who disdainfully violates the guidelines of the Supreme Court, does not have the moral right to occupy the Chair.
We demand immediate removal of Mr. Abhijit Chakraborty, the interim Vice-Chancellor of Jadavpur University.
We vehemently condemn this revengeful act of JU administration and the police atrocity against the students of Jadavpur University on 17th September 2014 and demand an immediate judicial probe of this horrifying incident as well as exemplary punishment of all the culprits including the police personnel and the hoodlums.
We strongly condemn the present West Bengal government without whose green signal, the JU authorities would not have acted in the way they did.
We also demand the immediate withdrawal of all police forces and intelligence officials in plain-clothes from the campus.
Given below are the links of videos that corroborate the fact of the police atrocities on a peaceful students’ demonstration in Jadavpur University campus after midnight on 17 September 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Me2cR-_oCk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gDhMKohE2E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVG_zdD485w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-9Ua0-hHEA
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Petition created on 18 September 2014