2 hrs ago
Clash at Kolkata’s SRFTI Over ABGP Campus Event
A group called the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat held a programme at a film institute in Kolkata.
The institute had reportedly given permission for the event.
Some students objected to outsiders, banners, and the use of the auditorium.
Students said members of the group attacked them and chased people around the campus.
The group said students tore its banners and attacked its members first.
Several students, staff members, and people from the group were reportedly hurt.
Police came to the institute and helped an ambulance leave after a crowd blocked it.
Both sides gave different accounts, and students asked police to file a formal complaint.
Clashes broke out at Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata after students objected to an Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat event.
Students alleged that ABGP members assaulted them, including women students, and that professors and a librarian were also attacked.
ABGP members said students tore banners and festoons, abused political leaders, and attacked them without provocation.
Police deployed personnel, intervened when an outside crowd blocked an ambulance, and faced demands from students to register an FIR.
Accounts differ on the event’s timing and escalation, with reports describing an initially permitted programme, banner-related dispute, and conflicting injury claims.
- Who
- Students and staff of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, members of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, police, and outside supporters were involved.
- What
- A clash followed student objections to an ABGP programme, banners, and the presence of outsiders on the institute campus.
- Where
- The Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute campus in Kolkata, West Bengal.
- When
- Sunday; one report says the programme began at 10 a.m., while another describes the clashes as occurring in the late afternoon.
- Why
- Students objected to outsiders and the event’s use of campus facilities; ABGP said students tore banners and attacked its members without provocation.
Students and their supporters
Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat and supporters
How the clash began
Students and their supporters
Students said they objected to outsiders, the programme, and banners on campus, after which ABGP members assaulted them and chased some students through the institute.
Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat and supporters
ABGP members said students tore banners and festoons, stepped on posters, abused political leaders, and attacked the organisation’s members first.
Nature of the event
Students and their supporters
Students and SFI representatives questioned why a private or RSS-linked organisation was allowed to hold an event in an educational institution and install banners around the campus.
Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat and supporters
ABGP said it had booked the auditorium for an awareness programme with the authorities’ permission.
Political context
Students and their supporters
SFI representative Debanjan Dey described the incident as part of a broader attack on free-thinking educational institutions and linked it to alleged RSS activity.
Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat and supporters
BJP supporters demanded the arrest of students, while BJP MP Rahul Sinha said the disruption was intended to damage West Bengal’s reputation. The ABVP said it was not associated with the incident and that police should investigate.
Police and security response
Students and their supporters
Students demanded an FIR against those they accused of assault and alleged that police were recording complainants’ personal details instead of taking immediate action.
Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat and supporters
Police deployed personnel to control the campus situation and intervened when a crowd outside reportedly stopped an ambulance carrying injured students.
Key facts
- Venue
- Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute’s main theatre or auditorium in Kolkata
- Organiser
- Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, West Bengal
- Reported permission
- Official sources and ABGP members said the auditorium had been booked or used with authorities’ permission
- Students’ account
- Students said they were assaulted after objecting to the event, banners, and outsiders on campus
- ABGP’s account
- ABGP said students tore banners and festoons and attacked its members without provocation
- Reported injuries
- Several people were injured; one student said about 15 students were hurt
- Police response
- Police deployed personnel, intervened at the campus gate, and helped an ambulance carrying injured students leave
Quotes
Indranil Roychowdhury
Film director and teacher at SRFTI
“We were holding the programme when the students came and started to tear the banners and festoons. They stepped on the posters of Bharat Mata and Swami Vivekananda. We told them to stop tearing the banners. They abused our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) and Chief Minister (Suvendu Adhikari), and started shouting slogans against the BJP. This was completely pre-planned. These people are want to turn SRFTI into another Jadavpur.”
indianexpress.com
“We used to have practical classes in the auditorium. People were brought in from outside, and meetings were being held there. A few of us protested against it. As a protest, we wrote posters and stuck them on the wall. After that, members of that organisation attacked us. We were slapped and punched indiscriminately. Somehow, we escaped by running towards the hostel.”
thehansindia.com
An unnamed professor
Professor at the institute
“Students were being beaten up. Seeing that, we moved forward. Some people also attacked us. We were not spared either.”
thehansindia.com
Sources
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