7 Visva Bharati students suspended, asked to vacate hostel

 Seven senior students of Visva Bharati were on Monday night suspended by the varsity authorities on charges of instigating junior students of two varsity-run schools to sit for a 'dharna' at the office entrance of Vice-Chancellor Sushanta Duttagupta.

University sources said the seven students, representing various departments of the Central university including Department of Chinese Language and Ancient History, were asked not to enter their respective departments and vacate the hostel with immediate effect. The office of the Registrar in a notification also asked the students to depose before the committee, formed to probe the circumstances behind the sit-in by junior students of Patha Bhavan and Siksha Satra at the gate of the office of the V-C, whenever asked.

The suspended students also belonged to BA (II) Economics, MSC (Chemistry), Arabic Studies departments of the esteemed institution. The seven students were charged with provoking the junior pupils to create a ruckus when the V-C tried to enter the office around 11 AM prompting Duttagupta to leave the spot in a huff, the varsity sources said. The junior students also blocked a nearby road in the evening.

They told this reporter they were agitating against the reported move of the institution to follow an uniform admission procedure as meant for the external candidates. In another press release from the VC's office, it was stated, "All admissions at undergraduate, post-graduate and M Phil/PhD levels will be open, transparent and on all India basis.