Shibpur BESU classrooms turn battlefield

Campus shut, Students asked to vacate hostels
Howrah, 6 November : Campus violence hit a shocking low at the prestigious Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) on Thursday when clashes broke out in classrooms , unprecedented even on the volatile BESU campus. Undergraduate classes have been suspended indefinitely and boarders told to vacate the hostels.
It was also the first time that police and RAF had to enter classrooms in BESU, making it one of the worst days in the university’s history since 2006, when clashes between SFI and Independents Consolidation (IC) had ended in the death of a boarder. The two groups were involved in Thursday’s violence also.
There was tension on campus since Tuesday night. On Thursday, practical classes were on when students, armed with hockey sticks, stormed into the IT and electronics labs. Lecturers stood stunned as fights broke out, with bottles, bricks, sticks and rods being used to deadly effect. Several students were injured. One of them - fourth-year IT student Sandip Pal - was taken to SSKM Hospital with head injuries. Both laboratories were badly damaged. SFI members dragged two IC supporters off a minibus outside the gate and beat them up. They were on their way to court to seek anticipatory bail after SFI filed FIRs against them.
On Tuesday night, two second year Independents Consolidation (IC) students were allegedly attacked by SFI members. IC allegedly retaliated with hockey sticks when SFI members were playing soccer in front of their hostel on Wednesday. Police were called in but they were outnumbered when violence erupted in classrooms on Thursday.
Four policemen, including DSP Howrah town (south) Anjan Chakraborty, were injured when they tried to intervene. Chakraborty was seen bleeding from the mouth after students landed fists on him. Howrah SP N K Singh had to rush in with reinforcements, including a stronger RAF unit, to relieve his besieged men. Students finally faced off with police near Gate No. 1. A lathicharge was ordered and pandemonium ensued.
Eleven students were arrested and eight were slapped with non-bailable charges for attacking police. The incident comes a day before a NAAC team is scheduled to visit the campus.
BESU registrar Biman Bandyopadhyay admitted that clashes had never broken out in classrooms. Vice-chancellor N R Banerjea convened a meeting of heads of departments as well as teaching and non-teaching staff. "It was decided to suspend undergraduate classes indefinitely. Inmates of all boys’ hostels were ordered to vacate them by 4 pm. They complied," he said.
The students union election, scheduled for this month, has been postponed indefinitely. No union election has taken place at BESU since 2005 and the authorities were planning to issue a notification for the polls on 9 November.
The union is presently controlled by IC. Its spokesperson Rajarshi Dutta accused SFI of trying to scuttle the polls. SFI spokesperson Rasel Aziz countered that they had submitted a memorandum to the VC demanding punishment for the guilty.