Visva Bharati students, faculty go on hunger strike

KOLKATA: The students and teachers of Visva Bharati launched a relay hunger strike from Sunday afternoon, demanding withdrawal of the expulsion order against three students.

The Visva Bharati authorities have rusticated three students for three years.

Rupa Chakraborty, one of the expelled students of Sangeet Bhavan, and Professor Sudipta Bhattacharya, of the department of Economics, have launched the relay hunger strike.

Professor Bhattacharya said the Delhi University had removed the Professor Bidyut Chakraborty, now the Vice-Chancellor of Visva Bharati, from all posts for three years for his alleged involvement in a sexual harassment case. How could such a tainted person be appointed as the V-C of a prestigious academic institution, he questioned.

He said the Vice-Chancellor was taking action against those who had raised their voices against him vindictively. More than a dozen police complaints have been filed against him.

He had suspended more than a dozen teachers and non-teaching staff arbitrarily, he maintained.