Overview
- A violent confrontation occurred on Sunday, September 27, at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute when students and members of the RSS-linked Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat clashed and several people were injured with at least two students hospitalized.
- Video and eyewitness accounts cited by students and artists allege assaults including stripping and harassment of women in the presence of police and signatories have demanded CCTV footage, medical records and witness statements be examined.
- The West Bengal government appointed a six-member Special Investigation Team led by Kolkata Police Addl. Commissioner Kunal Agarwal to probe the incident and ordered a preliminary report by October 1.
- Kolkata Police have registered three FIRs linked to the episode—one filed by SRFTI’s dean, one by ABGP leaders and one suo motu by police—and no arrests have been reported so far.
- More than 90 filmmakers and cultural figures have condemned the violence and demanded protections for campus dissent and transparent rules for external use of publicly funded institutes while political statements have increased fears of collective criminalisation and retaliation.