Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) Vice-Chancellor Santosh Ajmera was allegedly manhandled by a student and verbally abused by others, hours after his office was vandalised, a statement said on Thursday.
The VC’s office was vandalised on Wednesday night, causing extensive damage. A meeting was convened on Thursday to condemn the vandalism, and when faculty members were leaving the hall after it ended, some students allegedly surrounded Ajmera, raised slogans and used abusive language before one of them manhandled him, the statement said. The protest followed clashes with outfits linked to the RSS.
Stones were allegedly thrown at the office, shattering windows, while water and air-conditioning lines were cut, the institute said in the statement. “The actions of a few students had disrupted peace, order and normal academic activities, damaging the institute’s academic and cultural environment,” he said. In a letter dated October 14, the SRFTI Students’ Union said its members would continue their “academic halt and indefinite sit-in” until their demands, including Ajmera’s resignation, revocation of disciplinary notices and an independent inquiry into campus violence, were fulfilled.
Eight students had earlier been served show-cause notices on disciplinary grounds.
