<p>Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty on Wednesday alleged that a Facebook post complaining about the “unacceptable” behaviour of a teacher was a “conspiracy hatched at the top” to shift public attention from Jadavpur University where a student died allegedly because of ragging.</p>.<p>Chakrabarty, who described the post as “fake news”, took part in a dharna along with others during the day to protest against the entry of police officers on the Visva-Bharati campus without being asked to probe into the complaint against the music department teacher.</p>.<p>The VC told reporters: “I think it is a conspiracy hatched at the top to malign the central university to shift public attention from Jadavpur. That is why the fake news surfaced on that very day when that innocent child died. The fake news claims that the victim was being tortured for two years. Has the complainant been sleeping for two years?” A first-year undergraduate student died last week after falling from the second-floor balcony of a Jadavpur University hostel where he was allegedly ragged and sexually harassed.</p>.TMC delegation meets family of deceased Jadavpur University student.<p>Visva-Bharati has a mechanism to handle such cases and it is quite efficient, he said. The police are not neutral, and the central university has evidence of that, he claimed.</p>.<p>“As soon as they (police) get a stray complaint against us, they treat it as an FIR. But the same did not happen when we lodge complaints,” Chakrabarty said.</p>.<p>He cited several instances in which complaints lodged with the police allegedly were not treated as FIRs.</p>.Day-long hunger strike at Visva-Bharati University to protest against publication of 'unverified' news.<p>“The police cannot enter the campus without permission of the registrar. The police failed to enter Jadavpur as it is a state government-run university,” the Visva-Bharati VC said.</p>.<p>Besides the VC, a section of teachers and employees of Visva-Bharati took part in the dharna on Wednesday.</p>.<p>On August 14, a section of Visva-Bharati teachers and employees led by the VC took part in a day-long hunger strike to protest against a “fake” news item published in a section of the media, which involved a teacher of the university’s ‘Sangit Bhavana’ (Institute of Dance, Drama and Music).</p>.<p>Chakrabarty said, “Two police officers in plain clothes reached the office of the head of the department today and wanted to talk to him regarding the fake complaint. A couple of days ago, the same thing happened in connection with a caste-discrimination complaint. As soon as I heard it, we resolved not to talk with the police now.” The university has served a legal notice to the police on Wednesday morning, he said.</p>.Day-long hunger strike at Visva-Bharati University to protest against publication of 'unverified' news.<p>Meanwhile, Visva-Bharati authorities cancelled the annual ‘Barsha Mangal’ (cultural programme to celebrate the monsoon) which was scheduled to be held on Wednesday.</p>.<p>“We are all mentally disturbed due to the hyperactivity of the police at Sangit Bhavana. Therefore, according to our collective decision, today's scheduled Barsha Mangal has been cancelled,” the university said in a statement. </p>
<p>Visva-Bharati Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty on Wednesday alleged that a Facebook post complaining about the “unacceptable” behaviour of a teacher was a “conspiracy hatched at the top” to shift public attention from Jadavpur University where a student died allegedly because of ragging.</p>.<p>Chakrabarty, who described the post as “fake news”, took part in a dharna along with others during the day to protest against the entry of police officers on the Visva-Bharati campus without being asked to probe into the complaint against the music department teacher.</p>.<p>The VC told reporters: “I think it is a conspiracy hatched at the top to malign the central university to shift public attention from Jadavpur. That is why the fake news surfaced on that very day when that innocent child died. The fake news claims that the victim was being tortured for two years. Has the complainant been sleeping for two years?” A first-year undergraduate student died last week after falling from the second-floor balcony of a Jadavpur University hostel where he was allegedly ragged and sexually harassed.</p>.TMC delegation meets family of deceased Jadavpur University student.<p>Visva-Bharati has a mechanism to handle such cases and it is quite efficient, he said. The police are not neutral, and the central university has evidence of that, he claimed.</p>.<p>“As soon as they (police) get a stray complaint against us, they treat it as an FIR. But the same did not happen when we lodge complaints,” Chakrabarty said.</p>.<p>He cited several instances in which complaints lodged with the police allegedly were not treated as FIRs.</p>.Day-long hunger strike at Visva-Bharati University to protest against publication of 'unverified' news.<p>“The police cannot enter the campus without permission of the registrar. The police failed to enter Jadavpur as it is a state government-run university,” the Visva-Bharati VC said.</p>.<p>Besides the VC, a section of teachers and employees of Visva-Bharati took part in the dharna on Wednesday.</p>.<p>On August 14, a section of Visva-Bharati teachers and employees led by the VC took part in a day-long hunger strike to protest against a “fake” news item published in a section of the media, which involved a teacher of the university’s ‘Sangit Bhavana’ (Institute of Dance, Drama and Music).</p>.<p>Chakrabarty said, “Two police officers in plain clothes reached the office of the head of the department today and wanted to talk to him regarding the fake complaint. A couple of days ago, the same thing happened in connection with a caste-discrimination complaint. As soon as I heard it, we resolved not to talk with the police now.” The university has served a legal notice to the police on Wednesday morning, he said.</p>.Day-long hunger strike at Visva-Bharati University to protest against publication of 'unverified' news.<p>Meanwhile, Visva-Bharati authorities cancelled the annual ‘Barsha Mangal’ (cultural programme to celebrate the monsoon) which was scheduled to be held on Wednesday.</p>.<p>“We are all mentally disturbed due to the hyperactivity of the police at Sangit Bhavana. Therefore, according to our collective decision, today's scheduled Barsha Mangal has been cancelled,” the university said in a statement. </p>