New Delhi: An organisation of students at the Visva Bharati University in West Bengal has filed a police complaint against vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty based on a video where he purportedly asked students taking part in a rally to teach a lesson to other students.
According to news reports, the video is believed to have been shot on January 7, a day before students belonging to Left-affiliated organisations barred BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta from speaking at a seminar organised by the VC on campus in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
In the video, the VC can reportedly heard seeking to see photographs of the protesting students and saying, “Ektu osudh diye dao na (Give them some medicine, no),” to which a reply was, “Without your green signal, we can’t do anything, no.”
On contacted, the VC refused to speak to the Indian Express and directed it to the public relations officer, who in turn, denied it was the VC’s voice. “The voice in the clippings is not our Vice-Chancellor’s voice. It is a doctored video. It has been made to ruin the image of the university,” the PRO Anirban Sarkar said.
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Two students who took part in the January 8 protests were beaten up on campus on January 15, for which three persons were taken into custody.
One of those taken into custody was Achintya Bagdi, who could reportedly be seen walking in the front row with the VC in the video.
Visva Bharati Students’ Unity, which filed the police complaint along with the video, claims to be an independent forum not linked to any party. Citing the video, it claims that the VC indirectly aided the attack mounted on the students on January 15.
Shyam Singh, the superintendent of police, Birbhum district, told the newspaper, “We have got the FIR along with the video clippings. We have started our investigation.”