NBU strike lifted after Partha message

TT, Siliguri, Nov. 22: North Bengal University hostel boarders, who had shut the campus indefinitely on Friday demanding revocation of punishment of 30 MCA students accused of ragging three freshers, withdrew the agitation today following instruction from the state higher education minister.

The general secretary of the Trinamul Chattra Parishad-backed college union, Abhijeet Mukherjee, met minister Partha Chatterjee at New Jalpaiguri station on Friday.

"The strike was by general students not under the banner of any political outfit. I sought the minister's intervention. He said students had to follow all rules of the varsity and normal functioning of the institution should not suffer. He said the students should withdraw the agitation immediately," said Abhijeet, who passed out of the MCA department in July. "I conveyed this to the students and they have withdrawn the strike," said Mukherjee, who still holds the post as the union polls have not been announced yet. He is one of the persons questioned by the inquiry committee that probed the incident.

"The minister was annoyed. He said he would not allow anybody trying to create a stalemate," said a source

Three first semester MCA students had alleged that they had been tortured by seniors on September 5 at Ramakrishna Hostel. The three boys discontinued studies. On Thursday, the Executive Council decided to withhold for a year the semester results of 26 students for being directly involved in the ragging. They were suspended from the hostel for three years and permanently debarred from seminars and conferences among other events.

Four others accused of abetting the torture were suspended from hostels for six months. The services of a contract teacher and a security guard had also been terminated.

On Friday, 200-odd students from seven boys' and girls' hostels on NBU campus had shut down the varsity.

"The EC's decision cannot be revoked. I hope the students understand this and withdraw the strike," S.K. Rakshit, the acting registrar of NBU, said.

Sources said the 30 boys had started vacating hostels.