SRFTI students write to chairman amid campus crisis, seek dialogue and VC’s resignation

Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute students, whose indefinite sit-in entered the fourth day on Thursday over campus violence, have written to its Chairman Suresh Goel, seeking his immediate intervention in the ongoing crisis and demanding the vice chancellor's resignation. In a letter dated October 14, the SRFTI Students' Union said its members would continue their "academic halt and indefinite sit-in" until their demands, including Vice Chancellor Santosh Ajmera's resignation, revocation of disciplinary notices and an independent inquiry into campus violence, were addressed. Classes in the premier film institute have remained suspended since September 28. The letter, signed by students' union president Blossom Hazarika and vice-president Shubham Waydande, urged the institute authorities and the Centre to intervene immediately.

A Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) official said eight agitating students were served show-cause notices by the authorities on disciplinary grounds and for writing "objectionable graffiti" on the walls of the campus. They were also accused of putting up some posters which violate campus discipline, not paying attention to the VC's request to resume classes and assaulting security personnel in the vice chancellor's room last week.

Students want to resume shoots, workshops

Countering the SRFTI authorities' claim, the students alleged that they were attacked on September 27 by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, an RSS-affiliated consumer awareness group, and again on October 4 during a rally by the Bangiya Hindu Jagran Manch near the institute's gate. They claimed that several students were injured in the incidents. The students accused the institute administration of failing to ensure their safety and take adequate action following the alleged attacks. They claimed that repeated requests for "accountability and dialogue with the chairman, vice-chancellor and Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had not yielded satisfactory responses". "We want to go back to our classes, resume our shoots and workshops, and make our films," the students' union said in the letter, urging the chairman to initiate dialogue and help resolve the impasse.