Visva Bharati registrar leaves office after 84 hours, students continue sit-in

Protesting students demand reopening of the hostels which are closed since the lockdown

Visva Bharati registrar Asish Agarwal left his office in the university campus at Santiniketan after 84 hours in the presence of policemen even as a section of students continued their sit-in at the campus for over 96 hours demanding the reopening of hostels which are closed since the lockdown.

The registrar left his office late on Thursday night after Calcutta High Court asked the police to ensure that the officers of the central university are not obstructed from performing their duty or the registrar from moving freely in Shantiniketan by the students.

The official said the personnel from the local police station left the campus after the registrar went to his official residence and only Visva Bharati security personnel, who regularly man the gates and are in charge of security, are present as usual.

SFI leader in the university, Somnath Sow said the students had urged the registrar to leave the office on Tuesday morning itself when the students began their sit-in but he had refused and stayed put in his chamber.

The students, he said, vacated his office and camped outside on the lawn.

"How can we leave till our friends get hostel accomodations ? Since the university is not responsive to our needs, we prefer to stay in the open inside the campus. We are not creating any law and order situation. It is our right to be in the campus as students." Mr. Sow told PTI.

He said the sit-in by the students, which had begun on last March 1 at around 11 am first inside the chamber of the registrar in the central office building and then outside the main building in the open lawn from the next day, will continue indefinitely till the hostels are reopened.