Amid tension prevailing on Kolkata's Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) campus, a day after it witnessed clashes over an RSS-linked outfit's event, three FIRs were registered on Monday — two against "unknown students" and one against "unknown persons".
Kolkata Police filed an FIR against unknown students suo motu. Another FIR, on complaint by Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), the RSS-linked outfit, named "unknown students". Only FIR based on complaint lodged by SRFTI Dean (Film) Sukanta Majumder was filed against "unknown persons". All three include BNS sections of wrongful restraint, assault on public servants, voluntarily causing harm, and criminal intimidation.
According to Majumder's complaint, unknown people wrongfully restrained students and two faculty members, caused hurt, insulted women students' modesty and threatened them. In the suo motu FIR, unknown students are accused of wrongfully restraining police personnel, manhandling them to deter them from discharging duties, and breaking window panes of a government vehicle.
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The third FIR, filed on complaint by ABGP state unit leader Anjan Sinha, alleged unknown SRFTI students gheraoed organisation's members from 2.15 pm to 7.30 pm Sunday when they had gone to campus to hold event. Sinha alleged students "wrongfully restrained and verbally abused" their members "and made gestures to insult modesty of female activists". He alleged students vandalised photos of Bharat Maa, Goddess Durga, and Swami Vivekananda, made derogatory remarks about ABGP.
Sources said police are looking into CCTV footage to identify those involved and the reason behind it. The clashes took place over ABGP event on campus. The RSS-linked outfit had booked an auditorium for an "awareness" programme. A group of students objected to posters and banners put up by ABGP around campus, leading to clash.
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State Higher Education Minister Jagannath Chattopadhyay said insult to Swami Vivekananda or Bharat Mata would not be tolerated. "Any kind of violence in an educational institution is condemnable," he said, adding, "No Bengali student can kick a picture of Vivekananda. This culture will not be tolerated."
The incident has turned a campus dispute into a political flashpoint, with ABVP and ABGP on one side, film students defending creative autonomy on the other, and Kolkata Police caught documenting a clash through FIRs against unnamed participants.
Tags: #SRFTI #Kolkata #ABGP #RSS #CampusClash #FIR #SwamiVivekananda #StudentProtest #BengalPolitics #FilmInstitute