Kolkata: A day after she left the Sealdah campus under police protection, Surendranath Law College vice-principal and teacher-in-charge Mohammadi Tarannum on Saturday recalled the traumatic hours in a press briefing at her residence, clarifying that she did not resign and she will continue her service. She alleged that Koustav Bagchi, the new governing body (GB) president, misled students against her, prompting a chaotic situation on campus that resulted in a deadlock.She said: “As vice-principal, I maintained complete faith in my students. I called a parent-teacher meeting on Sept 9 to address attendance issues, but some students, influenced by outsiders, began protesting and demanding permission to take the exams. When I informed the GB president, he instructed me to allow students with 40% attendance, even though the mandatory minimum requirement is 65% fixed by the Bar Council. While I was attempting to resolve the matter through the parent-teacher meeting, these students were provoked and misled into believing that I was intentionally barring them from taking the exams.”Recalling the traumatic night, she said that at around 4:30 am, other faculty members were forced to leave the campus after being threatened with the words, ‘Chakri Bachate Hole Beria Jan’ (“If you want to save your job, leave the college”). “I told them to leave and stayed alone in the office without power or water. I am still shocked by the manner a section of students verbally abused me. As I have been suffering from depression and severe anxiety attacks, I was subjected to treatment similar to what I experienced over last 15 years, when such incidents occurred twice a month. I informed the higher education department and CU. I tried contacting the GB president as well, but failed to receive any support from him,” she alleged.She was only able to leave after emailing Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court. “Within minutes of sending the email, the police arrived to rescue me and broke the lock on the exit gate. Had they not come, I do not know what would have happened to me, as I was already suffering from extreme breathing difficulty.”She also alleged that when Bagchi first entered the college to take charge as GB president, he was accompanied by close associates of Debashish Banerjee (known as ‘Kankata Debu’), who used to control the college administration and had previously forced her to comply with his demands. Bagchi told TOI: “Statement pending.”Tarannum stated that she had already spoken with higher education officials and received an assurance that the minister would meet her shortly. “I have complete faith in the chief minister and the higher education minister to resolve this issue, as they want educational institutions to remain free from politics. I am confident that in the future, they will nominate a GB president who possesses a clear understanding of legal education.”Higher education minister Jagannath Chattopadhyay told TOI: “The entire matter has come to my attention. I have not yet received her resignation letter. The education department is taking all necessary steps to resolve the deadlock.”Meanwhile, the protesting students — who were seen performing a symbolic purification drive by sprinkling ‘Gangajal’ and performing an aarti with incense sticks — denied allegations of cutting off the power and water supply.
