Students Protesting Against Tree-Felling Thrashed at Visva Bharati

The incident took place in Shyambati near Shantiniketan where around 30 students, including girls, were protesting.

The incident took place in Shyambati area near Shantiniketan where around 30 students, including girls, were protesting against the felling of a peepal tree.

(Photo: ANI)

Students of Shantiniketan’s Visva Bharati University in West Bengal were allegedly thrashed by Trinamool Congress workers during an ongoing demonstration against the cutting of trees.

The incident took place in Shyambati area near Shantiniketan where around 30 students, including girls, were protesting against the felling of a peepal tree to make way for a project, reported The Telegraph.

A police complaint was lodged against three local Trinamool leaders, including the president of the party’s Ruppur anchor committee, Kazi Nurul Hoda, said the report.

Himadrija Chakraborty, a student of economics, told The Telegraph, “The police did not stop the attackers.”

Denying the assault, Hoda told The Telegraph, “We did not beat up anyone. The protesters stopped (the felling) for two hours and we just removed them.”

Among those beaten, a Canadian student Lavrenty Repin was hospitalised while another student from Poland Kamil Siedczynski managed to escape the assault. He told The Telegraph, “I was standing at a distance but I saw the men beating up my fellow students,” he said.

The situation was controlled by police, The Telegraph reported, quoting District police chief Sudheer Kumar.