Day after, no class at SRFTI, cop cover for campus, 4 FIRs

Kolkata: The situation at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) remained tense on Monday, with police deployed outside the gates and students staging silent protests inside. No classes were held.Police registered four cases for Sunday’s violence, three naming unidentified SRFTI students and one naming the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), which had booked an auditorium on the campus for an event. The clash between the students and ABGP members had left 30 students and two faculty members injured.One of the four FIRs, filed on a complaint by the additional OC of Panchasayar police station, alleges students wrongfully restrained police personnel on duty, used criminal force to deter public servants and vandalised a police vehicle. Lalbazar seniors said they have collected CCTV footage and have zeroed in on several persons for questioning. Cops on Monday recorded statements of six persons, including two students and staffers.Inside SRFTI, multiple meetings were held between the students and administration to de-escalate the situation. A fact-finding committee comprising faculty members was set up to establish the chronology of events on Sunday leading to the violence, enhance campus security and ensure safety of students and faculty.SRFTI students’ union president Blossom Hazarika told TOI they met director Santosh Ajmera and requested him to open the guest house for students who live outside the campus but he did not agree. “He asked us to remove the protest posters and stop writing on the walls. Basically, he was asking us not to protest anymore. Students did not agree and gheraoed his office after the meeting,” Hazarika said.The students also insisted that those responsible for renting out the main theatre to organisations unrelated to films be held accountable. “We want campus bylaws to be re-evaluated so that institute spaces are restricted strictly to film-related activities,” said Anamika Pal, a 17th batch student.The student councils of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune, FTII Itanagar and Roopkala Kendra, a Kolkata-based govt-run film institute, expressed solidarity with the students of SRFTI on Monday.Stepping up the ante, Anjan Sinha of ABGP, which had booked the auditorium for a consumer awareness programme, told TOI the organisation will file a move consumer court against the film school. “We will file a consumer case against SRFTI for not giving us the service we paid for. We have already filed a complaint against accused persons who are so-called students. We have sufficient videos and photos to proceed with our complaint. We are also collecting details of injuries to our members and losses we suffered,” he said. “Why were they shouting ‘azaadi’ slogans? Why did they have to chant ‘Jai Bhim’? Some of the students seemed intoxicated,” he alleged.An SRFTI faculty member said they had advised the students to remain calm. Several of them also questioned the need to rent out the main theatre to an organisation with no connection to filmmaking. However, sources on campus claimed this practice was not new. “The main theatre has previously been given out on rent to banks to host their events,” a senior SRFTI faculty member explained.SRFTI Alumni Association, through its president Ranjit Bahadur and vice-president Anirban Dutta, strongly condemned the attack on students, detailing how they were “hunted down, chased, mobbed, and beaten” during a “cowardly barrage of stone-pelting and government property vandalism by outside forces”.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Kolkata | Silver Rate in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata | Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Petrol Price in Kolkata | Diesel Price in Kolkata | CNG Price in Kolkata | LPG Price in KolkataStay updated with the latest Kolkata news. Download the TOI App.