SRFTI protest enters day 42 as Kolkata film school stays shut till 11 December

Students at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) in Kolkata marked Deepavali with a message of resistance as their protest against the institute’s administration entered its 42nd day. The campus is closed and classes are suspended until 11 December.

The authorities suspended film and digital media classes on 13 October, at first until 13 November. On Thursday, 5 November, they extended the closure of the campus by almost a month, citing the continuing protests.

The students want Vice-Chancellor Santosh Ajmera to resign and the administration to be held to account, and they want normal classes and campus life restored. They are also protesting against show-cause notices issued to 14 students and the rustication of six, which they say were issued without due process.

The administration rejects that. It says the security measures it took were needed after allegations of intimidation, physical abuse and vandalism on the campus, and it accuses some protesting students of staying on in the hostels after they were told to leave.

How it started

The agitation began after a confrontation on the campus on 27 September during an event organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, a consumer organisation. Disciplinary action against students, and more protests, followed.

SRFTI was set up in 1995 under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and is named after the filmmaker Satyajit Ray. Along with the Film and Television Institute of India in Pune, it is one of the country’s two leading public film schools, and many of its graduates work in Indian cinema and television.

What’s next

Both sides remain at an impasse, and the students say they will continue their protest.