Visva-Bharati to seek CBI probe in August 17 campus violence : Varsity authorities

KOLKATA: Visva-Bharati Tuesday said it will seek CBI inquiry into the August 17 vandalism in its campus which forced the indefinite closure of the institution, according to a statement issued by the central university.

The university blamed TMC MLA Naresh Bauri and two other leaders of the ruling party in the state for the ransacking of the university's properties to protest the erection of the boundary wall of the ground of Poush Mela, an important annual cultural event started over a century ago by Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, the father of Nobel laureate Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore.

The University will remain shut until the perpetrators and TMC leaders who took the "lead" are booked, it said. "The University authorities would seek a CBI inquiry into the incident ... Unless the miscreants, who committed vandalism along with TMC leaders at the lead, are booked and until we are at ease through the creation of condition in which the members of the university are free from bodily harm and humiliation, Visva Bharati would remain closed," it said.

The University also condemned the police inaction despite "intimidating well in advance" the district magistrate, the police superintendent, the chief secretary and home secretary of the state. Condemning the attack on one of its professors - Biplab Loho Chowdhury on Monday night by the perpetrators of violence, the varsity demanded that the police should withdraw the false FIRs slapped on the vice-chancellor and other university officials.

Teachers on fast

Unless the police withdraw the false FIRs slapped on the vice-chancellor and other university officials, there shall exist a scary environment of fear and shall not be free from the threat of humiliation and violence. So we request the state home ministry to withdraw the FIRs immediately, the statement said.

The vandalism at Visva-Bharati Tuesday snowballed into a major political row after the ruling TMC and the central university filed police complaints against each other and West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar threw his weight behind the varsity.

The police confirmed the receipt of complaints from both sides and said they were being looked into. Wondering about the fate of the FIRs lodged by the University since August 15, the statement said the institute's teachers and staff will hold a 12 hour-long fast as a mark of protest against the vandalism.

The date was, however, not mentioned. Claiming that the boundary wall fencing does not affect the natural beauty of the area, the university said the height of the boundary wall would have been only four feet from the ground which would be decorated with creepers and plants in harmony with the aesthetics of the campus and the environment.

The university has decided to seek the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also its chancellor, for the deployment of central security forces in its premises opening a potential flashpoint with the state government.

Also Read:

• Centre allocates Rs 115 cr to IIT-Jodhpur to set up ‘iHub Drishti’
• IIIT Delhi Placement 2020: 703 job offers for 376 students

Write to us at news@careers360.com