Who's to blame for violence, student injuries at Kolkata's SRFTI?

Fear and uncertainty have gripped students at the Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute (SRFTI) in Kolkata following a violent confrontation on campus involving students and activists of an outfit claiming RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) links on September 27.

The outfit involved is the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP). On its website, the ABGP describes its movement as “supported” by the RSS management but sans any role for the Sangh in its administration. According to Pankaj Roy, West Bengal president of ABGP, the outfit’s work focuses on “consumer protection and awareness”.

Several students were injured in the clashes; student representatives allege a couple of them were attacked with bricks, stones and sharp weapons. Some injured students were taken to hospital while the campus remained tense well into the evening.

The face-off began after ABGP members held a meeting at an SRFTI auditorium with permission from the institute’s authorities. A section of the students objected to the event and staged a protest.

According to students, the situation escalated after ABGP members confronted them. The ABGP, however, accused students of attacking its members and attempting to disrupt the meeting.

Student representatives alleged the SRFTI administration had failed to consult students before allowing ABGP to hold the meeting. “There was no discussion with the administration,” a student representative said, claiming the institute authorities were well aware that students would oppose the event but proceeded with it anyway.

Students also questioned why an outside organisation had been allowed to use SRFTI space ordinarily used for academic activities. “Practical classes are held in the auditorium. People from outside were brought in and a meeting was being held there. We put up posters on the walls as a form of protest. That was when members of the organisation attacked us. We were slapped and punched repeatedly. Somehow, I managed to escape towards the hostel and survived”, said Meghraj Rao, a student.

It is alleged that teachers who tried to intervene were attacked too. According to student representatives, the violence occurred in two phases. In the first incident, a group of 15-20 outsiders surrounded 10-15 students and assaulted them. Three students were reportedly seriously injured—one of them allegedly suffered a deep wound on his back from a sharp weapon or knife while another sustained a serious injury to his neck.

Students alleged the second phase of violence began after the number of outsiders gathered outside the campus increased. Bricks and stones were allegedly thrown and 8-10 students sustained significant injuries. One of those hospitalised required emergency plastic surgery.

The students also alleged the violence extended beyond the campus. One student was chased onto a bus headed towards Dum Dum and assaulted. Another was allegedly beaten up while attempting to help fellow students and subsequently admitted to hospital in critical condition.

As the confrontation continued for hours after the initial clash, police entered the campus and the main gate of SRFTI was closed. Members and supporters of ABGP gathered outside, with sloganeering by two sides.

Police reportedly took a person whom students identified as a key accused into a police vehicle. Students initially prevented the vehicle from leaving, demanding that their complaint be formally accepted. The vehicle could leave after police signed the students’ complaint and assured the matter would be examined. An ambulance carrying injured students was also reportedly stopped briefly by ABGP supporters.

The ABGP has rejected students’ allegations and claimed its auditorium meeting had been authorised by the institute. “We were holding a meeting after paying Rs 15,000 as rent and obtaining permission from the authorities. Our organisation mainly works on consumer protection and creating awareness among consumers. But an attempt was made to disrupt the meeting. Pictures of Bharat Mata and Swami Vivekananda were torn,” said the ABGP’s Roy.

Students have disputed this account. A statement issued by the SRFTI students’ union read: “The students were verbally harassed and called ‘anti-national’ and ‘cockroaches’. Members of the group then physically attacked students, including women, with fists, kicks, stones, bricks, sticks and other objects. Students were chased inside the campus. Even students who had not participated in the protest and were simply engaged in their academic work were chased.”

“Several students took shelter inside the library. Members of the group followed them there and the librarian was also physically harassed. The library was surrounded, leaving students and staff trapped inside their own institution in a frightening situation,” said the statement.

Filmmaker and SRFTI faculty member Indranil Roychowdhury expressed shock over the violence. “The incident is very concerning. From the images we are seeing, the students appear to have been brutally beaten. Whatever may have happened, outsiders cannot enter their campus and beat them. If something was objectionable, there were certainly ways of informing the authorities,” he said.

The role of the police has become a major point of contention. Students alleged police personnel failed to intervene effectively while bricks and stones were being thrown at them. Instead of taking immediate action against the outsiders, they were allegedly recording the names and addresses of protesting students.

SRFTI, one of India’s premier filmmaking institutions, was set up in 1995 as an autonomous academic body under the Union ministry of information and broadcasting. The institute was subsequently registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act, 1961.

The clash has left SRFTI’s 150-odd students seeking assurances over their safety as questions continue to be raised about the administration's decision to permit the ABGP event and the police response to the violence.