Kolkata, March 13 Amid enhanced police action and initiatives over the ruckus within West Bengal’s Jadavpur University on March 1, more complications in the matter are apprehended, including a fresh spat between the Raj Bhavan and the state Secretariat.
Two significant developments as regards police initiatives in the matter have already started churning up matters.
The first is the arrest of a first-year Jadavpur University student of Philosophy, Soumyadeep Mahato on Wednesday night by the Kolkata Police after a marathon interrogation.
Reportedly an associate of the Progressive Democratic Students’ Federation (PDSF), a students’ wing that is reputed to have ultra-Left leanings, has been charged with arson at the office of a Trinamool Congress-affiliated teachers’ body in the university campus on the night of March 1.
The development has hinted towards enhanced tension within the university campus with students planning protests over the arrest.
The second development, which might spark a fresh round of tussle between the Raj Bhavan and the state secretariat in the coming days, is the move by Kolkata Police to send a communique to Jadavpur University authorities seeking space for setting up a police outpost within the campus.
Governor C.V. Ananda Bose, who is also the Chancellor of all state-run universities including Jadavpur University, had already made in clear that he would not remain silent if the police move was in violation of the existing legal framework in the matter.
“It is up to the university authorities to decide the matter. But the decision has to be taken keeping in mind the existing rules in the matter. If the decision is within the legal framework, I will not interfere. “But whenever I feel that there has been any injustice or irregularity in the decision I will interfere as a Chancellor of the university. But the time for that has not come yet,” the Governor had claimed.
Even the CPI(M)’s student wing Students’ Federation of India (SFI) had made it clear they would oppose the move for a police outpost within the campus by all means.
“We doubt that the proposed police outpost is aimed at ensuring that the tension within the campus continues instead of settling down. That is the main intention of the state administration,” claimed SFI’s state secretary in West Bengal Debanjan Dey
A ruckus broke out within the Jadavpur University campus on Saturday when the State Education Minister Bratya Basu's car was allegedly stopped after it entered the campus, and a scuffle followed.
The students were demanding immediate elections for the university's students' council.
The protesting students alleged that while Basu decided to leave the campus in the face of the protests, his vehicle deliberately hit two agitating students, following which they were severely injured and had to be hospitalised.
Amid the protests, the Minister received minor injuries and fell sick. He was taken to the state-run S.S.K.M. Medical College and Hospital and was discharged later.
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