Statement of Solidarity with the Students of SRFTI, Kolkata
The Issue
We, the undersigned, stand in full solidarity with the students of the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata. Over three weeks, these students have been attacked twice on their own campus by outsiders, denied any meaningful protection or redress by their administration, and are now being punished for having asked for it.
On 15 October 2026, six students, including the Vice President and General Secretary (Film) of the Students' Union, were rusticated within a single day, without notice, hearing or enquiry. On 16 October 2026 at around 7 PM in the evening, the administration affixed a backdated order dated 15.10.2026 to various hostel notice boards, announcing a suspension of academic activity until 13 November 2026. Students report that they have been directed to vacate the campus within 24 hours, with the hostel mess shut and amenities withdrawn. We cannot remain silent while an institution named after Satyajit Ray turns on the very students it exists to nurture.
What has happened at SRFTI
27 September 2026. An event organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), an RSS-affiliated body, was permitted in the Institute's Main Theatre without the student body being informed. When students put up posters objecting to a political, non-film event in that space, they were chased across the campus and beaten. The librarian and faculty members were also attacked. Students report threats of hanging and rape, and women students report being touched inappropriately. A mob outside the gate pelted stones and bricks and called students "anti-national" and "terrorists". Students were gravely injured, two needing extensive plastic surgery, and the ambulance carrying them was stoned.
4 October 2026. Despite public announcements on social media of a march to the SRFTI gate, and despite students pleading for protection, a rally associated with the Bangiya Hindu Jagaran Mancha reached the gate and students were attacked and injured a second time. The Institute's complaint to the police did not name the organisation, though its identity was publicly known.
5 to 7 October 2026. When students sat in peacefully outside the Vice-Chancellor's office seeking accountability, Institute staff were allegedly mobilised to confront and physically remove them, and one student was dragged out of the room. Students report being told, through faculty, of FIRs, career damage, closure of the Institute and transfer of faculty if they did not return to class.
12 October 2026 onwards. Students began an indefinite sit-in demanding the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor, who holds charge of SRFTI only as an additional responsibility alongside his substantive posting at the Press Information Bureau, Kolkata.
15 October 2026. CCTV cameras were installed on campus without the giving any prior notice to the students, violating prior agreements made with and assurances given by the administration. In response, the students peacefully protested. The administration alleges that the Vice-Chancellor's office was vandalised on the night of 14 October and that he was manhandled. The Students' Union denies this and reports that campus security told the police they had witnessed no such incident. Within hours, the Combined Dean Council met in an "emergency meeting" and six students were rusticated by identical, cyclostyled orders, which state no specific charge against any of them and were passed without notice, reply or enquiry. They were told to vacate the Institute immediately.
15 to 16 October 2026. By an Office Order dated 15 October, communicated to students only by notices pinned on hostel boards on the evening of 16 October, academic activity was suspended until 13 November 2026. Students report that the order directs them to vacate within 24 hours, shuts the hostel mess, and threatens action against those who do not comply, and that heavy police presence has been reported at the gates.
As of today, the attackers of 27 September and 4 October have faced no visible consequence. The students who were attacked have.
Why this concerns all of us
The victims are being treated as the offenders. Students who were beaten on their own campus asked their administration to name the attackers, press for FIRs and keep them safe. They have instead been met with show-cause notices, threats, rustication and an order to leave. An administration that cannot protect its students from outsiders has found ample resolve to discipline them.
Peaceful protest is a right, not a privilege granted at the administration's pleasure. The freedoms of speech and of peaceful assembly under Article 19(1)(a) and (b) of the Constitution do not stop at a campus gate. SRFTI is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and is bound by Article 14 to act fairly, reasonably and without arbitrariness. A sit-in, a gherao, a poster and a slogan are the ordinary language of student life in India. Answering them with penalties is an attempt to make dissent too costly to voice.
Due process is not optional. The Institute's own Academic and Associated Bye-Laws require written notice, an opportunity to defend oneself and an enquiry before any major penalty. Rusticating six students in a single day, by identical orders that name no specific act, abandons all three. If any student is genuinely alleged to have committed a wrong, the remedy is a fair enquiry, not a summary purge of the Union's leadership.
Evicting students is not an administrative convenience. SRFTI draws students from every part of the country and from varied economic backgrounds. Many are first-year students far from home. An order to vacate within 24 hours, with the mess shut and no arrangements for travel or shelter, puts young people at real risk and disregards the Institute's basic duty of care. It reads less as a measure for safety than as a way to break a protest by taking away food and a roof.
A film school must be a place of free inquiry. SRFTI is a school of practice, where learning happens on sets, in edit suites and at late-night screenings. Its students are being trained to question, observe and tell difficult truths. Cinema cannot be taught in an atmosphere of fear, surveillance and reprisal, and an institute bearing Satyajit Ray's name, of all places, should know this.
Our demands
We call upon the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Chairman and Governing Council of SRFTI, the Vice-Chancellor, the Government of West Bengal and the Kolkata Police to act on the following without delay.
1. An independent inquiry into the attacks by outsiders. A time-bound inquiry, headed by a member of the cine industry or a person of comparable independence and standing, into the violence of 27 September and 4 October 2026. It must examine who permitted the ABGP event and on whose instructions, why no preventive steps were taken before 4 October despite public warnings, the conduct of the police on both days, and why the Institute's complaints omitted the names of the organisations involved. Its report must be made public.
2. Prosecution of the attackers. Proper registration and investigation of FIRs against every person involved in the assaults, stone-pelting and threats of sexual violence, with the organisations named, and a public account of the progress of investigation.
3. An independent inquiry into the alleged vandalism of 14 October 2026. The damage to the Vice-Chancellor's office must be investigated by a body independent of the administration, including whether unknown persons from outside the student body were responsible. All CCTV footage, security logs and material relied upon must be preserved and disclosed. No student may be held guilty on the administration's say-so alone.
4. Immediate recall of the rustication orders. The six Office Orders dated 15 October 2026 must be withdrawn, or at the very least stayed pending appeal. Any allegation against any student must be dealt with only through a fair enquiry under the Bye-Laws, with written charges, full disclosure and a personal hearing.
5. Immediate recall of the closure and eviction order. Office Order No. 21050/01/2024-Admn/1614 dated 15 October 2026 must be withdrawn in full. The hostel mess, hostels, washrooms, administrative building access and every other essential facility must be restored at once, and no student may be forced or removed from the campus.
6. No curbs on peaceful protest. Peaceful protest on campus must not be suppressed, surveilled or punished. All show-cause notices and disciplinary proceedings arising from the protests since 27 September must be withdrawn, and no coercive or legal action may be taken against students for taking part in them.
7. Withdrawal of police from the campus gates and an end to intimidation. Police deployment aimed at students must end, and staff who manhandled or threatened students must be held to account.
8. Dialogue, not dictation. The Chairman, the Governing Council and the Ministry must meet the elected representatives of the Students' Union, including those now rusticated, in open and good-faith dialogue, and address the long-pending issues of hostel accommodation and student safety that lie behind this crisis.
9. A full-time head for SRFTI. The Institute needs a full-time Vice-Chancellor with a real understanding of film education, not an officer holding it as an additional charge.
We stand with SRFTI
The students of SRFTI have said, in their own words, that they want to go back to their classes, resume their shoots and make their films. That is all any student should have to ask for. What stands in their way is not their protest but an administration that has chosen reprisal over responsibility.
An attack on the students of one film school is an attack on the idea of a free film school everywhere.
1,711
The Issue
We, the undersigned, stand in full solidarity with the students of the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI), Kolkata. Over three weeks, these students have been attacked twice on their own campus by outsiders, denied any meaningful protection or redress by their administration, and are now being punished for having asked for it.
On 15 October 2026, six students, including the Vice President and General Secretary (Film) of the Students' Union, were rusticated within a single day, without notice, hearing or enquiry. On 16 October 2026 at around 7 PM in the evening, the administration affixed a backdated order dated 15.10.2026 to various hostel notice boards, announcing a suspension of academic activity until 13 November 2026. Students report that they have been directed to vacate the campus within 24 hours, with the hostel mess shut and amenities withdrawn. We cannot remain silent while an institution named after Satyajit Ray turns on the very students it exists to nurture.
What has happened at SRFTI
27 September 2026. An event organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), an RSS-affiliated body, was permitted in the Institute's Main Theatre without the student body being informed. When students put up posters objecting to a political, non-film event in that space, they were chased across the campus and beaten. The librarian and faculty members were also attacked. Students report threats of hanging and rape, and women students report being touched inappropriately. A mob outside the gate pelted stones and bricks and called students "anti-national" and "terrorists". Students were gravely injured, two needing extensive plastic surgery, and the ambulance carrying them was stoned.
4 October 2026. Despite public announcements on social media of a march to the SRFTI gate, and despite students pleading for protection, a rally associated with the Bangiya Hindu Jagaran Mancha reached the gate and students were attacked and injured a second time. The Institute's complaint to the police did not name the organisation, though its identity was publicly known.
5 to 7 October 2026. When students sat in peacefully outside the Vice-Chancellor's office seeking accountability, Institute staff were allegedly mobilised to confront and physically remove them, and one student was dragged out of the room. Students report being told, through faculty, of FIRs, career damage, closure of the Institute and transfer of faculty if they did not return to class.
12 October 2026 onwards. Students began an indefinite sit-in demanding the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor, who holds charge of SRFTI only as an additional responsibility alongside his substantive posting at the Press Information Bureau, Kolkata.
15 October 2026. CCTV cameras were installed on campus without the giving any prior notice to the students, violating prior agreements made with and assurances given by the administration. In response, the students peacefully protested. The administration alleges that the Vice-Chancellor's office was vandalised on the night of 14 October and that he was manhandled. The Students' Union denies this and reports that campus security told the police they had witnessed no such incident. Within hours, the Combined Dean Council met in an "emergency meeting" and six students were rusticated by identical, cyclostyled orders, which state no specific charge against any of them and were passed without notice, reply or enquiry. They were told to vacate the Institute immediately.
15 to 16 October 2026. By an Office Order dated 15 October, communicated to students only by notices pinned on hostel boards on the evening of 16 October, academic activity was suspended until 13 November 2026. Students report that the order directs them to vacate within 24 hours, shuts the hostel mess, and threatens action against those who do not comply, and that heavy police presence has been reported at the gates.
As of today, the attackers of 27 September and 4 October have faced no visible consequence. The students who were attacked have.
Why this concerns all of us
The victims are being treated as the offenders. Students who were beaten on their own campus asked their administration to name the attackers, press for FIRs and keep them safe. They have instead been met with show-cause notices, threats, rustication and an order to leave. An administration that cannot protect its students from outsiders has found ample resolve to discipline them.
Peaceful protest is a right, not a privilege granted at the administration's pleasure. The freedoms of speech and of peaceful assembly under Article 19(1)(a) and (b) of the Constitution do not stop at a campus gate. SRFTI is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and is bound by Article 14 to act fairly, reasonably and without arbitrariness. A sit-in, a gherao, a poster and a slogan are the ordinary language of student life in India. Answering them with penalties is an attempt to make dissent too costly to voice.
Due process is not optional. The Institute's own Academic and Associated Bye-Laws require written notice, an opportunity to defend oneself and an enquiry before any major penalty. Rusticating six students in a single day, by identical orders that name no specific act, abandons all three. If any student is genuinely alleged to have committed a wrong, the remedy is a fair enquiry, not a summary purge of the Union's leadership.
Evicting students is not an administrative convenience. SRFTI draws students from every part of the country and from varied economic backgrounds. Many are first-year students far from home. An order to vacate within 24 hours, with the mess shut and no arrangements for travel or shelter, puts young people at real risk and disregards the Institute's basic duty of care. It reads less as a measure for safety than as a way to break a protest by taking away food and a roof.
A film school must be a place of free inquiry. SRFTI is a school of practice, where learning happens on sets, in edit suites and at late-night screenings. Its students are being trained to question, observe and tell difficult truths. Cinema cannot be taught in an atmosphere of fear, surveillance and reprisal, and an institute bearing Satyajit Ray's name, of all places, should know this.
Our demands
We call upon the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Chairman and Governing Council of SRFTI, the Vice-Chancellor, the Government of West Bengal and the Kolkata Police to act on the following without delay.
1. An independent inquiry into the attacks by outsiders. A time-bound inquiry, headed by a member of the cine industry or a person of comparable independence and standing, into the violence of 27 September and 4 October 2026. It must examine who permitted the ABGP event and on whose instructions, why no preventive steps were taken before 4 October despite public warnings, the conduct of the police on both days, and why the Institute's complaints omitted the names of the organisations involved. Its report must be made public.
2. Prosecution of the attackers. Proper registration and investigation of FIRs against every person involved in the assaults, stone-pelting and threats of sexual violence, with the organisations named, and a public account of the progress of investigation.
3. An independent inquiry into the alleged vandalism of 14 October 2026. The damage to the Vice-Chancellor's office must be investigated by a body independent of the administration, including whether unknown persons from outside the student body were responsible. All CCTV footage, security logs and material relied upon must be preserved and disclosed. No student may be held guilty on the administration's say-so alone.
4. Immediate recall of the rustication orders. The six Office Orders dated 15 October 2026 must be withdrawn, or at the very least stayed pending appeal. Any allegation against any student must be dealt with only through a fair enquiry under the Bye-Laws, with written charges, full disclosure and a personal hearing.
5. Immediate recall of the closure and eviction order. Office Order No. 21050/01/2024-Admn/1614 dated 15 October 2026 must be withdrawn in full. The hostel mess, hostels, washrooms, administrative building access and every other essential facility must be restored at once, and no student may be forced or removed from the campus.
6. No curbs on peaceful protest. Peaceful protest on campus must not be suppressed, surveilled or punished. All show-cause notices and disciplinary proceedings arising from the protests since 27 September must be withdrawn, and no coercive or legal action may be taken against students for taking part in them.
7. Withdrawal of police from the campus gates and an end to intimidation. Police deployment aimed at students must end, and staff who manhandled or threatened students must be held to account.
8. Dialogue, not dictation. The Chairman, the Governing Council and the Ministry must meet the elected representatives of the Students' Union, including those now rusticated, in open and good-faith dialogue, and address the long-pending issues of hostel accommodation and student safety that lie behind this crisis.
9. A full-time head for SRFTI. The Institute needs a full-time Vice-Chancellor with a real understanding of film education, not an officer holding it as an additional charge.
We stand with SRFTI
The students of SRFTI have said, in their own words, that they want to go back to their classes, resume their shoots and make their films. That is all any student should have to ask for. What stands in their way is not their protest but an administration that has chosen reprisal over responsibility.
An attack on the students of one film school is an attack on the idea of a free film school everywhere.
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Petition created on 17 October 2026