Kolkata: Jadavpur University Vice-Chancellor and Registrar, who were besieged by students demanding a fresh probe panel on alleged sexual harassment of a girl inside the campus, were freed in the wee hours on Wednesday by a strong police contingent which arrested 35 students.
Soon after the siege was lifted, the agitating students put up blockade in front of Jadavpur Police Station which was lifted on the condition that an independent probe would be carried out into the alleged sexual harassment of the girl student inside the boys’ hostel earlier this month, police said.
The 35 arrested students were later released on a personal bond, police said.
University Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarty and Registrar Pradip Ghose, meanwhile, said that authorities were ready for a discussion with the agitating students to end the impasse.
Students union leaders said they would chalk out a fresh course of action and threatened that the agitation would continue until the authorities apologised for bringing in police inside the campus and using force “to break a democratic movement”.
The Vice-Chancellor said he feared that he would have been killed had the police not come.
“I would have died in their hands had the police not come. They were attacking us and I fear we would have been killed,” he said.
State Education Minister Partha Chatterjee said the impasse at Jadavpur University can be solved through discussions and negotiations.
Chatterjee said students should vent their grievances in a democratic way and not resort to siege.
“If the agitating students want, they can also talk to the government,” he said.
