KOLKATA: Around 30 students and two faculty members of Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) were injured on Sunday afternoon in a clash between students and members of Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), an RSS-affiliated consumer awareness body that had booked an auditorium on the campus for an event.25 students were taken to Desun Hospital, where two were admitted and the rest discharged after first aid. A team from Peerless Hospital provided first aid to another five students on the campus.Police cordoned off the trouble spot with guardrails and senior officers were deployed there till reports last came in. Two students were questioned late at night.Blossom Hazarika, president of SRFTI Students Union, said they were kept in the dark about the decision to rent out the institute’s main auditorium to ABGP for an event.“We fail to understand why the SRFTI authorities leased out the space — that, too, on a Sunday — for a non-film event. We put up posters questioning the administration’s decision. The situation escalated when ABGP members confronted us,” he said.An altercation broke out after the programme started, when students approached the venue holding posters. They alleged they were chased, beaten up and pelted with bricks.“We were called anti-national, dimagi Naxal, jihadi, Pakistani and Bangladeshi. They made obscene gestures at female students and threatened them with rape. They punched and kicked us, including woman students, and also assaulted us with sticks,” said Manas Ruidas, a student of direction.Duttatreya Dey, an editing student and doctor, reported, “One of the students has a cut injury on his back. Stone pelting has resulted in facial injury. One has a serious laceration on the forehead and nose-bleeding. Another student suffered a blackout after being hit by a stonestudents suffering cut injuries, facial wounds from flying stones, a severe forehead laceration with nosebleeds.”Former student Prabuddha Mukhopadhyay, who rushed to the campus on hearing news of the clash, said a mob briefly gheraoed an ambulance taking five injured students to Desun Hospital.“Students who were not involved (in the clash) were targeted. Some of them hid in the library; a group followed them there, assaulting a guard. A teacher was thrashed,” he said.As stones and bottles were being thrown from outside, alumna Suchana Saha expressed fears over their safety at night.“Two of our faculty members were assaulted. More than 10 faculty members came to the campus to stand by the students. Since cops are yet to disperse the outsiders who have gathered in front of the gate, we are all trapped inside. The new VC is expected to land in Kolkata late on Sunday,” said a faculty member.Both sides accused police of inaction. Joint commissioner of police (traffic) Surya Pratap Yadav said strict action would be taken once complaints were lodged, while deputy commissioner of police (east) Arindam Sarkar said they would act against perpetrators from both sides.Three FIRs were lodged late on Sunday, two by ABGP and one by SRFTI students.SRFTI registrar Deepak Kumar told TOI, “I am in the middle of everything and will talk later.”Rejecting the assault charges, ABGP’s Anjan Sinha said: “If attacking students was our motive, why would we hire an auditorium for our members? Were elderly men and women (who came to attend the programme) carrying knives in their pockets?”He alleged that around 100 students had gathered outside the auditorium and shouted “RSS murdabad” and “Pakistan zindabad”.Sinha, who described ABGP as an apolitical body affiliated to RSS, said students entered the venue after the event started and pasted posters.When ABGP members tried removing them and ushering the students out, they faced a crowd outside. “Young girls were at the front. They came prepared for a confrontation and began assaulting us, forcing me to call police,” he said.Bengal BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said, “A hall (at SRFTI) was booked by nationalist organisations for a programme. A group of urban and dimagi Naxals stormed the venue, shouted ‘Go back RSS’, tore posters and… kicked posters bearing images of Bharat Mata and Swami Vivekananda.”
