Following the March 1 student protests at Jadavpur University (JU) and the ensuing violence, students around the state erupted in anger, accusing the police of supporting the West Bengal government and even assaulting and harassing female students who were detained.
On Thursday, March 6, police filed a First Information Report (FIR) against JU professor Om Prakash Mishra, West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu, and his driver Rehan Molla.
This comes after a day earlier, the Calcutta High Court ordered the state administration to legally file a complaint against JU student Indranuj Roy, whose email to the authorities served as the foundation for the formal complaint.
The case concerns actions on March 1, when Basu encountered student protests at JU. Demonstrators surrounded his vehicle, and there are reports that a student was driven over by the minister's car during the turmoil.
In response, left-wing student organisations called a nationwide strike at all universities. The situation worsened as more protests erupted around the state.
The FIR includes charges of attempted murder, assault, and insulting a woman's modesty, The Wire reports. The high court has scheduled the next hearing for 4 pm on Wednesday, during which the state government is due to present a full report on the March 1 clash.
On March 1, various incidences of violence were reported, with armed and violent ruling party members attacking student demonstrators in broad daylight in some locations. Women demonstrators were allegedly sexually harassed openly, even in the presence of police officers.
Two incidents of violence against female student activists from Left wing organisations at the hands of the police have sparked a lot of outrage in the state.
The first incident took involves Students’ Federation of India (SFI) activist Sucharita Das.
Das, who was part of a demonstration in Medinipur, was dragged out of the campus by activists from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) at the behest of the West Bengal police, who then allegedly detained her and subjected her to torture.
Sharing her ordeal with The Wire, Das recounted that the police insinuated that she was art of an “anti-government movement”, and beat her to the point of bruises. She added that the police tried to force her into accepting “her mistake”, and declaring that she would never engage in political activities again.
Sushrita Soren, an Adivasi student and a member of the left-wing DSO (Democratic Students’ Organisation), made similar allegations.
In conversation with The Wire, she alleged that she and other protesting students were taken into rooms without cameras, where police officers beat them with sticks and belts. In Soren’s case, her captors even hurled casteist abuses towards her when they found out that she was Adivasi, and threatened to kill her.
While Superintendent of Police for West Medinipur, Dhritiman Sarkar, denied the allegations and called them a “politically motivated conspiracy”, the students subjected to this violence are seeking legal remedy against their alleged torture by the police.
