A day after police action on agitating students at West Bengal’s premier Jadavpur University (JU) created a huge outcry, Police Commissioner Surajit Kar Purkayastha justified the action on Thursday. He said the police exercised “extreme restraint” and “acted as per law and the call of duty”.
“We also had information that outsiders mingled with students and some outsiders were hovering in and around campus and they were also armed with certain weapons,” Mr. Kar Purkayashta said, adding that since the situation has not diluted despite repeated attempts, police escorted the authorities out of campus.
The Commissioner denied any lathi charge by the police and said that 11 police personnel were injured in the accident.
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During the press conference, the police played video footage of the incident where the students in large numbers are seen clinging to the main door of the University’s administrative building and resisting the police when they tried to open the gates.
The video footage was starkly different from what the television channels aired and videos captured by students on their mobile phones. Footages released on social media and television channels show police personnel dragging the students and slapping them while trying to disperse them from the main entrance.
Mr. Kar Purakayashtha, however, said that the Jadavpur University Vice Chancellor, who was holed up in the administrative building, had made a requisition to the police and given repeated distress calls.
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“Who would have taken the responsibility if an untoward incident had occurred and the police had chosen not to intervene despite authorities having requisitioned for it?” Mr. Kar Purakayastha asked.
The Commissioner’s version comes at a time when there are protests in Jadavapur University over the use of force by police in the early hours of Wednesday. The students at the University boycotted the academic activities during the day demanding the removal of Vice Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti. The students encircled Mr. Chakrabarti and the Registrar as they demanded a fresh probe panel to investigate the alleged molestation of a student in the campus a few days ago.
The University authorities were not ready to accept the fresh probe panel. Meanwhile, the VC has gone on leave.