Four months after Jadavpur University students launched a protest following the molestation of a female student on campus, the institution is still smouldering. Amplifying the protesters’ demand for the resignation of the vice chancellor, 11 students are fasting unto death.
The protest began in the main administrative building, Aurobindo Bhawan, on January 5, with classmates lending support and doctors on standby. The protesters have given the university a charter of five demands that include vice chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti’s resignation and a fair investigation into the sexual harassment case.
“The police have not left the campus since the protests began,” said Nabottama Pal, a student of international relations who is among those fasting unto death. “It is a campus and not a prison where inmates need to be monitored all the time.”
She remarked that students want the university to resume its normal functions, but the vice chancellor’s departure is not negotiable. “Our foremost demand is that he should resign,” Pal said. “Only then will other demands be open for discussion.”
Emergency meeting
The protests first flared up last September, when some students peacefully demonstrating against the authorities’ apathy over a student’s molestation on campus were beaten up by the police. Despite subsequent calls for Chakrabarti’s ouster, he was appointed for a full four-year term in October.
On Tuesday, Chakrabarti responded to the hunger strike by sitting outside Aurobindo Bhawan to register his own protest against it. “The ongoing students’ movement and the hunger strike, which started from Monday, were not necessary at all,” he told The Times of India. “The movement is directionless. The protest is directed against a person and they are trying to malign me.”
Chakrabarti also announced an emergency meeting of the university’s executive council. But students felt the meeting was eyewash. “The meeting was not a step forward in any direction,” said Anwesha Dhar, a student of English and one of the sit-in protesters. “They tried to support us, yet they did not promise anything concrete.”
Fluctuating support
Students say the support for the hunger strike depends heavily on media attention, but even without it “the movement will continue”. “Our movement has gone through up and downs,” said Nabottama Pal. “We know what we are doing is right, and we are not afraid.”
Standing in solidarity with the movement are the university’s teachers and workers. According to students, the Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association has extended full support.
The hunger strike, meanwhile, has left many worried about the health of the 11 students since they believe a conclusion to the protest is unlikely. “We have used various methods of protests but hunger strike is an extreme method,” said Pal. “We weren’t eager to take do it but we had to.”
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The protest began in the main administrative building, Aurobindo Bhawan, on January 5, with classmates lending support and doctors on standby. The protesters have given the university a charter of five demands that include vice chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti’s resignation and a fair investigation into the sexual harassment case.
“The police have not left the campus since the protests began,” said Nabottama Pal, a student of international relations who is among those fasting unto death. “It is a campus and not a prison where inmates need to be monitored all the time.”
She remarked that students want the university to resume its normal functions, but the vice chancellor’s departure is not negotiable. “Our foremost demand is that he should resign,” Pal said. “Only then will other demands be open for discussion.”
Emergency meeting
The protests first flared up last September, when some students peacefully demonstrating against the authorities’ apathy over a student’s molestation on campus were beaten up by the police. Despite subsequent calls for Chakrabarti’s ouster, he was appointed for a full four-year term in October.
On Tuesday, Chakrabarti responded to the hunger strike by sitting outside Aurobindo Bhawan to register his own protest against it. “The ongoing students’ movement and the hunger strike, which started from Monday, were not necessary at all,” he told The Times of India. “The movement is directionless. The protest is directed against a person and they are trying to malign me.”
Chakrabarti also announced an emergency meeting of the university’s executive council. But students felt the meeting was eyewash. “The meeting was not a step forward in any direction,” said Anwesha Dhar, a student of English and one of the sit-in protesters. “They tried to support us, yet they did not promise anything concrete.”
Fluctuating support
Students say the support for the hunger strike depends heavily on media attention, but even without it “the movement will continue”. “Our movement has gone through up and downs,” said Nabottama Pal. “We know what we are doing is right, and we are not afraid.”
Standing in solidarity with the movement are the university’s teachers and workers. According to students, the Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association has extended full support.
The hunger strike, meanwhile, has left many worried about the health of the 11 students since they believe a conclusion to the protest is unlikely. “We have used various methods of protests but hunger strike is an extreme method,” said Pal. “We weren’t eager to take do it but we had to.”
