SRFTI asks parents to take protesting students home amid campus stir

• SRFTI asks parents to take students home as classes remain suspended till 13 November.

• Protesters call the move pressure tactics and continue their sit-in demanding accountability for campus violence.

• CPI(M) MP John Brittas seeks an independent inquiry and intervention by the Centre.

Kolkata's Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) has asked parents of students participating in an indefinite sit-in over campus violence to take their wards home, prompting the protesters to accuse the administration of using pressure tactics to end their agitation.

The institute has suspended regular academic activities in its film, electronic and digital media departments till 13 November. A senior SRFTI official said the administration had emailed the parents of students still staying on campus, urging them to take their children home as classes remained suspended.

“We have sent the message to the parents on their registered email IDs,” the official told PTI, without specifying how many parents had received the communication.

However, SRFTI students’ union spokesperson Sudip Chakraborty termed the move an attempt to pressure the protesters into withdrawing their agitation. “Parents of several of our batchmates have received the mail, asking them to take away their wards home. But we are determined to continue with the protest,” he said.

Chakraborty added that most of the protesting students were from outside West Bengal and had stayed on campus to participate in the agitation.

The students have been staging an indefinite sit-in outside vice-chancellor Santosh Ajmera’s office since 12 October, demanding his resignation and accountability for incidents of violence on campus. Their academic boycott entered its 26th day, with concerns over campus security and the administration’s response remaining unresolved.

The unrest followed clashes on 27 September between students and members of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, an RSS-affiliated consumer awareness group, during a programme. A further confrontation occurred on 4 October during a march by members of the Bangiya Hindu Jagaran Mancha. Some protesters allegedly attempted to break open the institute’s gate and were stopped by police.

In a notice issued on 16 October, the institute suspended regular academic activities till 13 November and asked students to vacate the premises within 24 hours. The institute’s Puja vacation had continued till 21 October.

An SRFTI official alleged that some protesters had continued to stay in hostels even after their courses ended. “They are troublemakers, instigating their juniors and preventing them from attending classes since 28 September,” the official claimed.

CPI(M) MP seeks Centre’s intervention

The standoff has also drawn political intervention. CPI(M) MP John Brittas has written to Union information and broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and minister of state for petroleum and natural gas and tourism Suresh Gopi, who is also SRFTI’s chairman, seeking urgent intervention.

In his letter dated 21 October, Brittas said the crisis followed the incidents of 27 September and 4 October, alleging that students were verbally abused and physically assaulted during the first confrontation, while stones and bottles were reportedly hurled towards them during the later march.

He also raised concerns over disciplinary action against the protesters, stating that six students had been rusticated and others served show-cause notices. Brittas called for an independent inquiry into the alleged attacks, intimidation and manhandling, as well as the withdrawal of disciplinary action against students.

The MP urged the administration to engage with student representatives and address concerns over hostel accommodation, medical assistance for injured students and the rescheduling of classes and practical work lost during the disruption. He also raised allegations of staff attempting to dictate the language students should speak.

An institution dedicated to cinematic education and artistic freedom should not become 'an arena of fear and coercion', Brittas said.

In a separate letter to Union education minister Pralhad Joshi, Brittas’s party colleague V. Sivadasan sought intervention over an indefinite hunger strike at Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi, where students are demanding restoration of the students’ union and resumption of elections.

The two MPs have raised concerns over student representation, campus safety and disciplinary action against young protesters at both institutions. Sivadasan urged the Jamia administration to engage in dialogue and establish a time-bound process for restoring elected student representation, while Brittas called for the Centre to take up the SRFTI crisis with the institute’s administration.