Left-leaning students attacked inside Visva Bharati

Armed with rods and sticks, a group of men attacked the students of a boys’ hostel inside the Visva Bharati university campus on Wednesday night leaving several of them injured, police said on Thursday.

Two persons - identified as Achintya Bagdi and Saber Ali - were arrested on Thursday for their alleged involvement in the attack, an officer of Santiniketan police station said.

An SFI member was hospitalised and several others suffered minor injuries in the attack that took place a week after BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta was heckled by Left- leaning students after he came to deliver a lecture on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act last week.

“Two groups of students clashed inside the campus. It was not linked to politics. The security officer and others went there to sort out the matter,” the central university’s Public Relations Officer Anirban Sarkar said.

When produced before a Bolpur court, Bagdi and Ali were remanded to nine days’ police custody.

Assistant Public Prosecutor of Bolpur court Phiroj Pal said, “An incident happened last night at VisvaBharati. Two students were allegedly assaulted. On the basis of a complaint, police arrested the two.”

Claiming that Bagdi and Ali are former students of the university, SFI VisvaBharati unit leader Somnath Sau alleged that a group of outsiders beat up Swapnanil Mukhopadhyay and several other members of the SFI and other Left-leaning students with rods and sticks at around 11:30 pm on Wednesday.

Mukhopadhyay was treated at a hospital located within the campus and discharged later.

Two persons - identified as Achintya Bagdi and Saber Ali - were arrested on Thursday for their alleged involvement in the attack