Surendranath Law College students protest against attendance fine

Kolkata: The students of Surendranath Law College put up a road block in front of Calcutta University on College Street on Wednesday morning after college authorities asked some students to pay a fine of Rs 2,000 for their failure to achieve 70 percent attendance in class.

The incident caused traffic congestion on college street prompting the senior police officers to intervene. The road block was later lifted following their intervention.

A chaos broke out in the area as many students took to the street shouting slogans.

The students taking part in the agitation said college authorities had asked them to pay an amount of Rs 2,000 as fine after they failed to meet the minimum required attendance.

The students came to know about the fine on a whatsApp group on Tuesday night. The message read — 'Those who do not have 70 percent attendance in college will not be allowed to appear for the examination unless they pay Rs 2, 000 as fine.' The decision had made the students angry and they decided to organise a sit-in demonstration in front CU's College

Street campus. The agitating students on Wednesday said college authorities cannot impose a fine of Rs 2,000 on the matter mentioned just two days ahead of the last date of filling up the examination form.

They also threatened to organise bigger movement if their demands are not met.

Some of the students said college authorities must reconsider the issue as it would affect many candidates. They also expressed their inability to pay the fine.

The traffic movement was disrupted on College Street for sometime in the morning due to road block.

Senior police officers urged the agitating students to lift the block following the agitation was withdrawn.