Kolkata: After SRFTI VC Santosh Ajmera warned that missing classes would bring consequences and issued notices to some students — resulting in just a single attendee in the EDM wing on Thursday — the boycott became total as zero students showed up on Friday. Addressing a pertinent student demand to provide accommodation to freshers on campus, the VC decided to ask faculty members to prepare a complete plan so that all senior students “finish their diploma films on priority and vacate their hostels at the earliest so that juniors are accommodated immediately”.Ajmera appealed to all stakeholders to help restore campus normalcy — a prerequisite for materialising plans such as the institute’s participation in festivals like the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) and expanded career support for final-year students. “My heart goes to the newcomers since they are new to the city as well as to the institution. Freshers should get priority to avail the hostel. It is the seniors’ responsibility that their juniors get all the benefits that they have been enjoying from this institution for so many years. This is the way all premier institutions run,” he said.Later, students put out a demand making it clear that unless these are met “they have unanimously decided to go for an indefinite academic halt”. The students demanded that all allegations against students have to be unconditionally withdrawn. The students have also sought the immediate intervention by the Chairman of the Institute, Suresh Gopi, and the Ministry of I&B headed by Ashwini Vaishnaw, who is a chancellor of the Institute.He told TOI that he joined the institute a week ago with the dream of making SRFTI “one of the leaders at the global level in the times to come”. De-escalation of friction from all quarters is essential to ensure normalcy returns. But that, students feel, will not happen by erasing graffiti or installing barbed wires on campus. However, Ajmera said his intention is not to censor anyone. “I do not want to remove any wall graffiti. But only the ones that are in the form of defacement of the govt property are not acceptable. Creative wall graffiti is welcome. But the ones removed were provocative in nature. The institution had to clean them as they were not good for maintaining a safe and secure environment. Different families of the staff and faculties, with minors, stay on campus. We have to be sensitive about keeping the institute in a liveable condition for all of us.”Naming and shaming of staff and students on social media have become big issues at SRFTI, especially after students accused BJP neta Rudranil Ghosh of “publishing screenshots of private conversations of SRFTI students, exposing their names, identities and phone numbers to his social-media followers”. On Thursday, Ghosh had called out the supposedly non-political students’ agitation by sharing screengrabs to suggest that it had Left backing. While Ghosh was unavailable for comments, students too have shared videos of their altercation with staff members and even identified some administrative staff and security members whose behaviour they found objectionable.SRFTI’s security officer Prabir Kumar Munshi said: “We have sympathies for our students. But what happened on campus is unprecedented. Some 50 students descended into total hooliganism inside the VC’s room. There were some important official documents he had to sign but the students were on a rampage. It was so difficult to rescue him from inside. We feared he would have been manhandled had we not rescued him. For two nights, students stayed in his room, playing carrom and chess and partying. We have everything documented and recorded. We have everything documented and recorded. Those videos could also come out if students continue sending out one-sided posts.”Ajmera, however, said, “My request to all stakeholders is to help us in bringing calm, safety, and security. I will also appeal to my students not to put out any content which can be provocative in nature as social media has a potential to actually depict something which is not in reality.”Rumours are doing the rounds that some faculty members felt insulted by the VC since he apparently “threatened” them by claiming that the ministry will transfer them to other places as they haven’t been able to help restore normalcy. Ajmera dismissed the allegation, saying, “The ministry always plays a supportive and facilitative role. It doesn’t get involved in day-to-day administration. Our faculties are the best and they have been getting invitations from abroad as well. Such rumours are uncalled for. We have three institutions – FTII Pune, SRFTI Kolkata, FTII Arunachal Pradesh. We interchange our faculties for a short duration so that all students benefit from each other’s talent. That is how the talent pool is managed. But it doesn’t mean that one institution will transfer its faculties to the other. We are proud of our faculties and their contribution to building this institution,” Ajmera said.On Friday afternoon, students held a press conference where they reiterated their eight-point demands. “The VC is sending out individual notices to students with charges against each and then expecting normalcy on campus. He is insisting that we return to classes but is not ensuring a proper dialogue happens with us about our demands. He has refused to provide expenses for medical treatment if injured students don’t stay in Kolkata now. This is not done. We will not apologise to him. We want the chairman to meet us,” said student Anamika Pal.They demanded an immediate legal action through an FIR against those involved in campus violence and unlawful entry, alongside transparent public disclosures regarding official actions taken on photographic evidence, formal complaints, and the vice-chancellor’s claims about crowd negotiations. Furthermore, students are pressing for an independent investigation into the security failures, a halt to the removal of protest materials, concrete safety guarantees for everyone on campus, and an end to all forms of intimidation.Ajmera reiterated that SRFTI has already filed two complaints. “The administration is constituting a fact-finding committee. Accordingly and appropriately, action will be taken. It is for the concerned govt dept to answer the students’ demand of disclosing the status of action taken against the institute’s complaint,” he said. On the demand that an “independent investigation” be done by SRFTI, Ajmera said, “The government has instituted an SIT. I have to respect the job they are doing and wait for that report to be filed. Besides, I will not have the wherewithal to supersede the ongoing process and run an independent investigation.”
