12 Kolkata: Jadavpur University's interim vice-chancellor Bhaskar Gupta and pro-VC Amitava Datta were on Tuesday freed from their 24-hour confinement with the help of a section of university professors and officers. The protesting engineering students who were caught fudging marks were unwilling to get the marksheet reviewed and demanded that the fudged marks be retained.
The examination board conducted a meeting to discuss the matter, where a section proposed disciplinary action against the protesting students. However, Gupta refused it and allowed them a chance to ‘rectify' themselves. Around 40 students pursuing second-year engineering undergraduate courses demanded to be declared as ‘passed', claiming their papers were not checked properly. In reality, many of them had tampered with mark sheets to avail of scholarships.
The board also discussed two options — offering them remedial classes and reviewing their answer scripts by external experts. However, the protesting students refused to agree with the proposals.
In the meeting, the exam board decided to send two cases of mark sheet tampering, which were identified by the higher education department, to the executive council to make a final decision and made it clear that the evaluation process would not be changed. Sources said a primary check by the university exam controller section saw the number would not be less than 42 who had tampered with marks.
After being rescued from the gherao, Gupta said: "I made it clear that the university will not tolerate such criminal offences. However, speaking to the department head of the mathematics department, we were ready to arrange remedial classes. Moreover, we asked them to apply for review, and experts from outside the campus will review their papers."
Expressing his annoyance, Gupta added: "Their demands cannot be considered a movement at all because criminalisation can never be tagged as a movement. However, I do not agree with taking disciplinary action because I still believe they should get a chance to correct themselves."
Jadavpur University Teachers' Association (JUTA) general secretary Partha Pratim Ray said: "No such unethical demand should be entertained, as it will damage the university's image."