India News | Bengal Varsity Registrar Asked to Go on Leave Following Protests over Female Student's Death
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. The Registrar of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT), Partha Pratim Lahiri, has been asked to proceed on a one month-leave in the wake of continuing protests against him over the death of a woman student on its Haringhata campus in West Bengal's Nadia district.
Kolkata, Feb 13 (PTI) The Registrar of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT), Partha Pratim Lahiri, has been asked to proceed on a one month-leave in the wake of continuing protests against him over the death of a woman student on its Haringhata campus in West Bengal's Nadia district.
The student had allegedly jumped from the fifth floor of a varsity building on Monday, after she was "caught cheating" during an examination, officials said. She was taken to Haringhata Rural Hospital where doctors declared her dead.
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Meanwhile, classes resumed on the Haringhata campus on Thursday, following talks between the agitators and the university authorities.
The suspended internal exams, which had began on February 5 but remained held up since February 11, will also resume on February 17, Officiating Vice-Chancellor Tapas Chakraborty told PTI.
Chakraborty said in view of the ongoing protests by a section of students against Lahiri over alleged delay in taking the student to hospital, he has been instructed "to be on leave for a month", with the university's own investigation expected to be over by that time.
Complaints have surfaced about the absence of an ambulance driver after the student reportedly jumped from the building, leading to delay in taking her to hospital. The protesting students claimed they had to arrange an e-rickshaw after waiting for 15-20 minutes, and that she died on the way to hospital.
"I had a cordial discussion with the students and they later withdrew the stir and the situation is now normal," Chakraborty said.
The registrar could not be contacted for comments.
The state-run university was recently in the news after a purported viral video showed a senior woman professor 'marrying' a student inside a classroom. The professor later mailed her resignation to the varsity authorities.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)