One arrested, seven FIRs filed after clashes at West Bengal’s Jadavpur University

One person was arrested and seven first information reports were filed on Sunday in connection with the clashes that took place in West Bengal’s Jadavpur University a day earlier, India Today reported.

The clashes inside the university campus in Kolkata took place on Saturday during a protest demanding the immediate announcement of dates for the conduct of student union elections in the state.

The violence erupted after students, primarily from groups supported by the Left, demanded that the state Education Minister Bratya Basu, who was visiting the university, announce the dates for the elections on the spot, The New Indian Express reported.

Tensions escalated when Basu said that he could only set the election schedule after consulting senior officials.

Subsequently, protesters ransacked the venue and damaged his vehicle. Several professors were allegedly assaulted and the university employees’ office was set on fire, The New Indian Express reported.

A student sustained serious injuries and was being treated in hospital after falling in front of the minister’s car.

The violence also triggered a verbal confrontation between members of student groups affiliated to the Left and those from the Trinamool Congress-backed West Bengal College and University Professors’ Association, The Times of India reported.

“We only wanted to know when student elections would be held,” The New Indian Express quoted an unidentified Students’ Federation of India leader as saying. “But TMC [Trinamool Congress]…

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