Prema Rajaram| The News Minute| September 22, 2014| 1.30 am IST
The police along with ‘outsiders’ beat up and allegedly molested female students on the nights of 16th and 17th September at the Jadavpur University in Kolkata. Lights were turned off at the Aurobinda Bhavan so cameras could not capture the atrocities. The ones nbeaten and allegedly molested were students who were peacefully protesting against the inaction of University authorities in a molestation case that had occurred a week before. The next day, police refused to take complaints, despite victims waiting endlessly to exercise their constitutional right of filing an FIR.
But what khaki clad men with batons could not silence were the voices of nearly 30,000 people shouting slogans while marching through the streets of the city on Saturday, protesting against the apathy of the police and state government. The police were unarmed, taking no chances to further fan the simmering sentiments of those marching towards the Governor house to submit their demands. Everyone from students, ex students, professors, celebrities and parents took to the streets braving incessant rains.
A lady along with her family who doesn’t belong to the city, was proceeding to watch a film at Nandan theatre, but instead joined the march. The only sentiment that led this mother of a 9 year old daughter to coerce others with her to join in, was the call of safety in educational institutions for girls. Friends of students studying at Jadavpur University are aghast at how the agitation has grown from around 50 students last week to thousands.
An outsider Meghana Nayak recalls how she stood outside the Jadavpur police Station for hours on Tuesday as her friend, a victim and student of Jadavpur University fought hard to file an FIR on the molestation that took place on the campus. “The police just refused to take down the FIR and give us a proof of receipt of the complaint. They were unperturbed by the TV cameras being around too.”
Kolkata Police Commissioner Surajit Kar Purkayastha went on record on the 18th of September, saying students were armed, police did not have batons, did not lathicharge and instead acted with restraint. He said they were probing the accusation that ‘outsiders’ were present carrying ‘dangerous weapons’ during the incident.
He adds there were distress calls and a written appeal from the acting Vice Chancellor of the University Abhijit Chakrabarti, to free him from students protesting outside his office. The incident might be probed, but how much can be denied when there are pictures in newspapers of police lathicharging students?
Where did it all start? A student molested a week ago was allegedly asked by the Vice Chancellor to stay away from the campus for a fortnight for her safety and contact him post that. The victim refused to miss classes and demanded a probe by the authorities.
Arijit Sett, an ex student of Jadavpur University says the protest are an apolitical movement and about safety of students. “Even if there is no plausible solution by the State administration or by Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi, the message that the protests send out is that people are not fools and voices should be heard. Even if the Vice Chancellor resigns and the Government fails, still women don’t feel safe, then the movement is a failure.”
Some of these protesters were also students who were part of a television show in 2012 where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee referred to one student of Kolkata’s Presidency College as a ‘maoist' and walked out of the show. The student had asked a tough question on the law and order situation in the state.
Whether there is a connect between the past and the present is not certain, though protestors feel the two issues speak of political intolerance. One of them who wished to remain anonymous adds, “It is not surprising, but the shamelessness with which these people lie, makes me think ten times what I read and hear of what political figures say. It undermines my ability to decipher whether they are speaking the truth; it is shocking now, not funny anymore.”
Monday is a big day for both the protestors and the state administration.
The Governor is expected to students’ demand that Vice Chancellor has to resign and a committee to be set up to probe the incidents of molestations. The Governor had asked for 2 days time.
The students will also be holding a general body meeting to discuss the next course of action. Will the Vice Chancellor whose interim tenure is coming to an end be made permanent by the Government that has put him at the top of the list of 3 in the race for the job? Trinamool Chattra Parishad is organizing a counter rally on Monday, to clear their name as the ‘outsiders’ who allegedly molested the students.
“My objective is very simple. It is time to remind the Government that they are not supposed to rule us, but serve us.” Says H Singh, student of Calcutta University which is one of the seventy five odd institutes across the country that is part of this agitation. Agitations on the same issue have been taking place in Delhi and Bangalore. The Indian community in New York too is organizing a protest on the 25th of September at Washington Park Square. What will it take to bridge the gap between justice and denial?