The SRFTI student protest entered its 15th consecutive day on Monday as students continued their academic boycott over alleged attacks, rallies outside the campus and what they described as inadequate security assurances from the institute administration.
Students at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute began abstaining from academic activities on September 27 after tensions escalated over a programme organised at an auditorium on the campus by the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, a consumer awareness group affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Opposition to the programme led to a clash in which several people, including two faculty members, were injured.
The dispute intensified on October 4, when the Bangiya Hindu Jagaran Manch organised a protest outside the institute’s main gate against the September 27 incident. Students alleged that protesters assaulted them while they were travelling to the campus and threw stones and bottles. These allegations have not been independently established in the report.
Sudip Chakraborty, a spokesperson for the SRFTI students’ union, said the boycott would continue until the institute provided assurances on student safety and took up the matter with the police and local administration. He said students remained dissatisfied with the administration’s response and alleged that adequate steps had not been taken to address the security concerns raised by them.
According to Chakraborty, students had staged a sit-in outside the vice-chancellor’s office after the October 4 incident. He further alleged that some institute staff members and security personnel intimidated and harassed students participating in the protest. He also said around 150 students from outside West Bengal felt threatened amid the continuing tensions on campus.
The institute’s vice-chancellor, Santosh Ajmera, could not be reached for comment. A senior institute official said that most students had already left the hostels with the onset of Durga Puja. The official did not indicate whether the academic boycott had been resolved or when regular academic activity would resume.
In a statement issued on October 5, SRFTI said it was “deeply concerned” about the incidents and reiterated its commitment to ensuring the safety and security of students. The statement did not, according to the report, specify the additional security measures sought by the students’ union.
The continuing standoff has placed campus security, police coordination and the administration’s responsibility for maintaining academic continuity at the centre of the dispute. The students’ union is expected to convene a general body meeting soon to discuss the situation and decide its next course of action.
