Times when police crossed Jadavpur University gates, throwback to past instances
Telegraph | 12 March 2025
Police entered the Jadavpur University campus on Monday. But not for the first time.
A throwback to some of the earlier instances
When: 2005
What happened: The police moved into JU in the dead of night on June 10 and baton-charged students who refused to call off a fast unto death.
The cops arrived in batches at gate No. 2 of JU, teeming with the protesters, close to midnight on June 10.
The students were protesting the suspension of five students accused of assaulting some senior university officials in 2003.
When the protesters did not comply with requests from the police to withdraw their agitation, the cops chased the students with lathis, injuring several.
Face of the protests: A group of ultra-Left students staged the protest backed by the Democratic Students’ Front (DSF), which now runs the faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union (Fetsu).
Vice-chancellor: Ashok Nath Basu. The fast-unto-death had put the campus on the boil after the ultra-Left outfit and Fetsu ignored requests from the authorities and VC Basu to withdraw their agitation.
When: 2010
What happened: On November 9, 2010, students carrying black flags tried to stop then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s convoy from leaving the campus.
One of them even tried to lie down in the car’s path while others shouted slogans against the CPM-led government.
Soon after the convoy left, the students and the police were locked in a clash.
The chief minister had come to unveil an auditorium.
An FIR had been lodged against 35 students for clashing with the police while trying to prevent Bhattacharjee from leaving the campus.
State home department officials had then said the FIR was lodged to send a “stern message” to a section of students.
The Left-dominated Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (JUTA) had condemned the “atrocities by the students”.
Face of the protests: A group of ultra-Left students led the protests, again backed by the DSF.
Vice-chancellor: Pradip Narayan Ghosh. He later ordered a probe into the incident to find out who was behind blocking Bhattacharjee’s convoy. Students of engineering, except those in final year, then boycotted the semester exams after the varsity authorities refused to withdraw the FIR against 35 students accused of trying to block Bhattacharjee’s convoy on November 9.
When a new semester began on December 7, the students boycotted classes over the issue. The climbdown began after JU’s executive council ruled out talks on the academic impasse till the students joined class.
When: 2014
What happened: Several hundred JU students held the then VC and other members of the executive council captive for several hours past September 16 midnight, forcing the authorities to make a distress call and seek police intervention.
The students were shouting slogans demanding dissolution of JU’s internal complaints committee, which was probing a molestation complaint lodged by an undergraduate student.
The students were upset with the tardy progress in the investigation.
Once a police team arrived on the campus, a social media campaign and a flood of text alerts followed to get more students to join the agitation.
The police, led by then additional commissionerDebasish Roy, clashed with students while making a passage for the exit of the VC and other council members and teachers.
Faces of the protest: Students of different political hues had joined the protests, which continued for four-and-a-half months. It gave birth to the Hok Kolorob (let there be noise) movement that rang loud across the city.
Vice-chancellor: Abhijit Chakrabarti.
Chakrabarti denied any assault by the police. But he could not survive the sustained protests by the students. In January 2015, chief minister Mamata Banerjee went to the campus to announce that Chakrabarti had stepped down. She requested students to end the agitation.