The Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) in Kolkata has rusticated six students over alleged manhandling of Vice-Chancellor Santosh Ajmera, vandalism and disruption of academic activities, as an indefinite protest and class boycott at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting-run institute entered its third week.
The rustication orders cover students from the editing and animation departments, among others, and relate to multiple semesters. In notices issued on Friday, the institute cited a “grave incident involving physical assault, intimidation, obstruction and abusive conduct towards the Vice-Chancellor” before recommending disciplinary action.
According to the administration, protesting students pelted stones at Ajmera’s office on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. The registrar alleged that a student manhandled the Vice-Chancellor on Thursday while a group of students gheraoed and abused him. The institute said Ajmera had taken charge around 15 days earlier and described the incident as unacceptable and damaging to the functioning of the office.
The administration said the alleged confrontation followed a meeting of heads of departments and section heads to condemn vandalism at the Vice-Chancellor’s office. It said that as faculty members and officials were leaving the hall, students surrounded Ajmera, raised slogans and used abusive language before one student allegedly manhandled him.
The institute also alleged that Ajmera’s office was attacked overnight. Its statement said stones were thrown at the premises, windows were shattered, and water and air-conditioning lines were cut. The office was found with broken glass, stones and damaged furniture on Thursday morning, according to the administration.
The SRFTI Students’ Union has rejected the allegations as “completely fabricated”. In a statement, the union said students had been sitting at their protest site opposite the administrative building when they learned that closed-circuit television cameras were being installed on the first floor. The students then occupied that floor to protest the installation, which they said violated an earlier agreement with the administration.
The union said the Vice-Chancellor told students that the cameras were being installed because of alleged stone-pelting, vandalism and damage to his office. It denied involvement in those incidents and said the protesters had used “strictly non-violent and peaceful protest tactics”. The union repeated its demand for Ajmera’s resignation.
The standoff began on September 27 after a group of students allegedly damaged and tore banners of Swami Vivekananda and Bharat Mata during a programme organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, an RSS affiliate, at an SRFTI auditorium. A clash later broke out between students and RSS workers, leaving several people injured. Another clash occurred on October 4 after the Hindu Jagran Manch held a rally to the institute.
Students have since maintained an indefinite sit-in and academic boycott, seeking the Vice-Chancellor’s resignation, withdrawal of disciplinary action and independent inquiries into the violence. Multiple first information reports have been filed at local police stations. The institute’s latest action adds six rustication orders to a dispute that has already disrupted classes and raised competing claims over campus security, protest rights and institutional accountability.
