Zeenews Bureau
Kolkata: A day after alleged Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) members stormed the Presidency University campus here and beat up its students, some girl students claimed on Thursday that they were threatened with rape.
The vandalism took place on Wednesday, a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee faced a protest in New Delhi organised by the Students Federation of India (SFI), the students wing of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
"They were carrying TMCP flags and shouting slogans. They broke the gates and entered the campus. They beat up our students," Presidency University Vice Chancellor Malabika Sarkar said.
TMCP activists had organised a rally from College Street junction near the university to protest Tuesday`s incident in New Delhi. When it reached the university gates, some of the participants allegedly turned violent and forcibly entered the campus.
Several Trinamool leaders, including Councillor Partha Basu, were caught on camera standing at the gate of the University .
A female student was reported by a news channel as saying that girl students were beaten up and threatened with rape. She added that she was warned against leaving the campus.
Sarkar said that police "did not take any action. It is absolutely unacceptable. They vandalised the physics department. This is an unprovoked attack on peaceful students in a university campus".
She said the mob returned to vandalise the physics department.
The heritage Baker`s Building, which celebrated its centenary recently, also faced the wrath of the vandals.
"We had apprehended disturbance. But police said there was no cause of worry. Despite that, we were attacked twice," Debashruti Roychowdhury, dean of students, told the media.
An SFI supporter who was beaten up said: "They were shouting slogans eulogising Mamata Banerjee. They were carrying sticks, rods and spears. They pinned me down and shouted, `How dare you beat up Amit Mitra?`"
Students supporting SFI and Independent Consolidation (IC) are holding a strike today to protest the violence by the TMCP.
"Teachers also were not spared," said an IC leader.
Banerjee, Finance Minister Amit Mitra and others were heckled by members of the SFI outside the Planning Commission office building in New Delhi`s Parliament Street on Tuesday.
The SFI was protesting the death of its activist Sudipta Gupta in Kolkata Police`s custody on April 2.
The university`s alumni include Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Satyajit Ray, Marxist leader Jyoti Basu and India`s first president Rajendra Prasad.
(With IANS inputs)
