The 68-day-old strike at the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India came to a head late on Tuesday as the police raided the film school's Pune campus and arrested at least four students for allegedly manhandling staff and damaging property on Monday. The police had actually aimed to take at least 17 students into custody, but were unable to do so due to procedural lapses.
The students have been boycotting classes since June 12 to protest against television actor Gajendra Chauhan’s appointment as chairperson of the FTII governing council. They say he does not have the credentials or the experience to guide the country's premier film school.
On Monday, some students held the institute's director Prashant Pathrabe captive in his cabin for a few hours. Tuesday's police raid was in response to a complaint about the incident filed by Pathrabe at Pune's Deccan police station. He said that he had been gheraoed because he decided to proceed with the long-pending assessment of films made by students of the 2008 batch.
He stated in his complaint that the protesters manhandled members of the staff to prevent them from leaving the campus. They also shouted slogans such as “Narendra Modi murdabad, Arun Jaitley murdabad” ‒ down with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, down with Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitely, whose department oversees the FTII ‒ "causing immense stress" to him. The complaint added that the glass on the door to the director's office had been broken in the melee, internet cables and telephone connections were snapped, and computers worth between Rs two lakhs and Rs three lakhs damaged.
The complaint listed the names of 17 students are being responsible for Monday's protest, though it said that between 25 to 30 more students were also involved.
Haaris Ahmad, a first year student specialising in screenplay writing, said that the police had entered the campus at 11.45pm on Tuesday. They called out the names of the students they wanted to detain. However, some of them were not on the campus, the names of others had been misspelled on the warrant, and the women student they aimed to take into custody could not legally be detained after sundown. In the end, only four students were detained, said Ahmad from outside the Deccan police station, where his colleagues were being held.
However, the ANI news agency said in a tweet that five students had been arrested.
"Such late-night tactics and high handedness of the state trely reminds one of the dark times we are living in," said a post on the FTII Wisdom Tree Facebook page run by the protestors.
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The students have been boycotting classes since June 12 to protest against television actor Gajendra Chauhan’s appointment as chairperson of the FTII governing council. They say he does not have the credentials or the experience to guide the country's premier film school.
On Monday, some students held the institute's director Prashant Pathrabe captive in his cabin for a few hours. Tuesday's police raid was in response to a complaint about the incident filed by Pathrabe at Pune's Deccan police station. He said that he had been gheraoed because he decided to proceed with the long-pending assessment of films made by students of the 2008 batch.
He stated in his complaint that the protesters manhandled members of the staff to prevent them from leaving the campus. They also shouted slogans such as “Narendra Modi murdabad, Arun Jaitley murdabad” ‒ down with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, down with Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitely, whose department oversees the FTII ‒ "causing immense stress" to him. The complaint added that the glass on the door to the director's office had been broken in the melee, internet cables and telephone connections were snapped, and computers worth between Rs two lakhs and Rs three lakhs damaged.
The complaint listed the names of 17 students are being responsible for Monday's protest, though it said that between 25 to 30 more students were also involved.
Haaris Ahmad, a first year student specialising in screenplay writing, said that the police had entered the campus at 11.45pm on Tuesday. They called out the names of the students they wanted to detain. However, some of them were not on the campus, the names of others had been misspelled on the warrant, and the women student they aimed to take into custody could not legally be detained after sundown. In the end, only four students were detained, said Ahmad from outside the Deccan police station, where his colleagues were being held.
However, the ANI news agency said in a tweet that five students had been arrested.
"Such late-night tactics and high handedness of the state trely reminds one of the dark times we are living in," said a post on the FTII Wisdom Tree Facebook page run by the protestors.
