After a fortnight of protests, Visva-Bharati University in West Bengal will see some normalcy from September 9. The Calcutta High Court on September 8 imposed an interim stay order on the rustication of three students that triggered the protests and hunger strike. The students can get back to class from September 9. The court had earlier asked the local administration and the police to clear all protests, sit-ins or agitation from in front of the VC's residence and administrative buildings.
Rupa Chakrabarty, one of the rusticated students, had been on hunger strike for the past four days protesting against the administration's decision to rusticate her along with Falguni Pan and Somnath Sow, both PG students of the Economics department. Rupa, a second-year PG student of Hindustani Music said that she respects the High Court's order and has ended the hunger strike after the news of the court order came. "We have been allowed to get back to class and this is a win for us. We respect the court's order and have lifted the hunger strike," she added.
Sources privy to the proceedings said that Justice Rajasekhar Mantha observed that the punishment meted out to the students is too severe for the offense they have been accused of. He also said that the Vice-Chancellor Dr Bidyut Chakraborty is not above the law either, (and if found guilty of discrepancies) he will have to face consequences as well, said sources. Justice Mantha also commented that students should be kept away from politics. The court statement has not been published yet.
