The 2014 Jadavpur University student protest, branded itself as "Hok Kolorob", i.e., "let there be noise". It was originally the title of a song by Bangladeshi singer Arnob and began to be used as a hashtag on Facebook.
The protests have been marked with a strong cultural flavour: students have been singing, dancing and arranging diverse cultural manifestations throughout the days while the protests ensue. The protests have a large oeuvre of posters, graffiti, poems, songs, slogans, street plays and performances dotting the University campus and the streets of Kolkata. This has led the Trinamool Congress to link this protest to the student movements of the 1970s. It is one of the first movements in India to significantly employ social media and internet activism for coordination and dissemination.
On August 28, a girl student of second year at Jadavpur University was dragged into the Old Boys' Hostel on campus and molested, and her male friend beaten up, by 10 residents of the hostel. According to the girl's father, when he approached the interim Vice-Chancellor, Abhijit Chakrabarti, on September 1, he was told to wait for a couple of days as Chakrabarti was going to New Delhi. The father lodged a police complaint on September 2 and sent a letter to the University authorities on September 3, upon which an internal inquiry was ordered in the Vice-Chancellor's absence, believed to be at the behest of state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee. An Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) was formed in accordance with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 to investigate the matter. However, the committee was compromised when two of its members visited the girl's home in Bidhannagar on September 5, refusing to identify themselves and asking questions about her dress on the night of the incident. This led to the girl filing a General Diary with the Bidhannagar police station on September 6 for "mental harassment" in which she identified them as professors of the Sanskrit and Women's Studies Departments of Jadavpur University.
A number of students then staged demonstrations demanding that the accused ICC committee members be replaced, as well as forming an "external committee", effectively the Local Complaint Committee (LCC) recommended by the Sexual Harassment Act, and demanding increased security for students within the campus. This was not acceptable to the Vice-Chancellor, but, at the same time, he asked the students to wait until after the meeting of the Executive Councils on the evening of September 16. At the meeting of the Executive Councils it was decided that it is not possible for a panelist to be replaced at some intermediate point of an investigation. This inability to replace panelists, according to University officials, is mandated in the Vishaka Guidelines of the Supreme Court. The officials instead presented a letter which talked about students' code of conduct, totally deviating from the demands of the students.
On the evening of September 16, after the meeting of Executive Council was finished, students gheraoed some university officials, including Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti, in their offices. Following several attempts to communicate and reach an understanding between the officials and the students, the situation reached an impasse, and the students continued their demonstration into the night. The Vice-Chancellor summoned police for protection.
On September 17, 2014, The Kolkata Police arrived at the scene around 8 pm. Some senior officials from the police department tried to negotiate with the students but could not come to a settlement. At around 2 am on September 17, the lights at the entrance to the Administrative Building were suddenly turned off. This was followed by police assault on students, lifting the gherao and thereby completing the rescue operation. The police beat up several students, and arrested 36. Some students were injured, and needed to be hospitalized.
Students say that the police force was aided by several civil-dressed outsiders (cadres of Trinamool Congress, according to students). The gherao was dismantled, and the Vice Chancellor was escorted off the campus by the police. This was immediately followed by a road block by the students in front of the Jadavpur police station. Students allege that female students were manhandled by the police force.
The incident of the beating of students by the police sparked nationwide reaction, with a high amount of protest on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Videos of the attack on the students surfaced on the internet and TV channels.
Students of the University have boycotted classes since the incident of police brutality. On 20 September, a rally was organized by students in the heart of the city, and was attended by students from the University, other educational institutions, and the general populace in a spontaneous outburst of outrage at the brutality with which the opposition to authority was stamped out. The rally ended peacefully, with student representatives holding a meeting with the Governor of West Bengal, Keshari Nath Tripathi, who is also the Chancellor of the University. Estimates of the number of participants in the rally vary between 30,000 and over 100,000 people. On the same day, protest demonstrations were held in several other Indian cities, showing solidarity with the students of Jadavpur University.
On September 22, a rally was arranged by the ruling Trinamool Congress party against the students. According to newspaper reports, school and college students from suburban and rural areas were dragged to the rally in order to showcase the power of the ruling party. The agitating students of Jadavpur University were mocked through slogans and posters.
On September 25, The Pro-Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University resigned from his post.
Students, alumni and teachers from major educational institutions in the city and from colleges from across the country have supported the protests. Alumni of the University have arranged for demonstrations in New York, London and Sydney. Participants of the 2013 Shahbag protests in Bangladesh expressed solidarity with the protests. A citizen's convention condemning the police brutality was arranged in the university campus on September 24, which was attended by eminent educationists and intellectuals.
The Commissioner of Police said in a press conference that police came on to the campus only at the request of the Vice-Chancellor. He accused students of offending police officers by using foul language to them. He also said that police were not carrying any lathis, so there was no question of any baton charge (lathi charge). This provoked criticism, as several video clips showed officers carrying lathis.
The main contention by the authorities (both the University and the state government), is that the students were not peaceful, and that the lives and safety of University officials, including the Vice-Chancellor, were under real and tangible threat from the students. Another point raised by the administration was the large presence of "outsiders" among the protesters - students and others who were not currently affiliated with Jadavpur University. According to Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti in an interview with a news channel, these outsiders - alleged to be from rival political parties or to be drug-dealers who supply the student population - were the main element of the rowdiness that justified the use of punitive force.
The protests have been marked with a strong cultural flavour: students have been singing, dancing and arranging diverse cultural manifestations throughout the days while the protests ensue. The protests have a large oeuvre of posters, graffiti, poems, songs, slogans, street plays and performances dotting the University campus and the streets of Kolkata. This has led the Trinamool Congress to link this protest to the student movements of the 1970s. It is one of the first movements in India to significantly employ social media and internet activism for coordination and dissemination.
On August 28, a girl student of second year at Jadavpur University was dragged into the Old Boys' Hostel on campus and molested, and her male friend beaten up, by 10 residents of the hostel. According to the girl's father, when he approached the interim Vice-Chancellor, Abhijit Chakrabarti, on September 1, he was told to wait for a couple of days as Chakrabarti was going to New Delhi. The father lodged a police complaint on September 2 and sent a letter to the University authorities on September 3, upon which an internal inquiry was ordered in the Vice-Chancellor's absence, believed to be at the behest of state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee. An Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) was formed in accordance with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 to investigate the matter. However, the committee was compromised when two of its members visited the girl's home in Bidhannagar on September 5, refusing to identify themselves and asking questions about her dress on the night of the incident. This led to the girl filing a General Diary with the Bidhannagar police station on September 6 for "mental harassment" in which she identified them as professors of the Sanskrit and Women's Studies Departments of Jadavpur University.
A number of students then staged demonstrations demanding that the accused ICC committee members be replaced, as well as forming an "external committee", effectively the Local Complaint Committee (LCC) recommended by the Sexual Harassment Act, and demanding increased security for students within the campus. This was not acceptable to the Vice-Chancellor, but, at the same time, he asked the students to wait until after the meeting of the Executive Councils on the evening of September 16. At the meeting of the Executive Councils it was decided that it is not possible for a panelist to be replaced at some intermediate point of an investigation. This inability to replace panelists, according to University officials, is mandated in the Vishaka Guidelines of the Supreme Court. The officials instead presented a letter which talked about students' code of conduct, totally deviating from the demands of the students.
On the evening of September 16, after the meeting of Executive Council was finished, students gheraoed some university officials, including Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti, in their offices. Following several attempts to communicate and reach an understanding between the officials and the students, the situation reached an impasse, and the students continued their demonstration into the night. The Vice-Chancellor summoned police for protection.
On September 17, 2014, The Kolkata Police arrived at the scene around 8 pm. Some senior officials from the police department tried to negotiate with the students but could not come to a settlement. At around 2 am on September 17, the lights at the entrance to the Administrative Building were suddenly turned off. This was followed by police assault on students, lifting the gherao and thereby completing the rescue operation. The police beat up several students, and arrested 36. Some students were injured, and needed to be hospitalized.
Students say that the police force was aided by several civil-dressed outsiders (cadres of Trinamool Congress, according to students). The gherao was dismantled, and the Vice Chancellor was escorted off the campus by the police. This was immediately followed by a road block by the students in front of the Jadavpur police station. Students allege that female students were manhandled by the police force.
The incident of the beating of students by the police sparked nationwide reaction, with a high amount of protest on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. Videos of the attack on the students surfaced on the internet and TV channels.
Students of the University have boycotted classes since the incident of police brutality. On 20 September, a rally was organized by students in the heart of the city, and was attended by students from the University, other educational institutions, and the general populace in a spontaneous outburst of outrage at the brutality with which the opposition to authority was stamped out. The rally ended peacefully, with student representatives holding a meeting with the Governor of West Bengal, Keshari Nath Tripathi, who is also the Chancellor of the University. Estimates of the number of participants in the rally vary between 30,000 and over 100,000 people. On the same day, protest demonstrations were held in several other Indian cities, showing solidarity with the students of Jadavpur University.
On September 22, a rally was arranged by the ruling Trinamool Congress party against the students. According to newspaper reports, school and college students from suburban and rural areas were dragged to the rally in order to showcase the power of the ruling party. The agitating students of Jadavpur University were mocked through slogans and posters.
On September 25, The Pro-Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University resigned from his post.
Students, alumni and teachers from major educational institutions in the city and from colleges from across the country have supported the protests. Alumni of the University have arranged for demonstrations in New York, London and Sydney. Participants of the 2013 Shahbag protests in Bangladesh expressed solidarity with the protests. A citizen's convention condemning the police brutality was arranged in the university campus on September 24, which was attended by eminent educationists and intellectuals.
The Commissioner of Police said in a press conference that police came on to the campus only at the request of the Vice-Chancellor. He accused students of offending police officers by using foul language to them. He also said that police were not carrying any lathis, so there was no question of any baton charge (lathi charge). This provoked criticism, as several video clips showed officers carrying lathis.
The main contention by the authorities (both the University and the state government), is that the students were not peaceful, and that the lives and safety of University officials, including the Vice-Chancellor, were under real and tangible threat from the students. Another point raised by the administration was the large presence of "outsiders" among the protesters - students and others who were not currently affiliated with Jadavpur University. According to Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti in an interview with a news channel, these outsiders - alleged to be from rival political parties or to be drug-dealers who supply the student population - were the main element of the rowdiness that justified the use of punitive force.
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