Students boycott classes at Kolkata film institute after alleged RSS-linked assault

For the sixth consecutive day, the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute in Kolkata has suspended all classes as students maintain an academic boycott over a violent incident on campus. On September 27, a gathering organized by the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, a consumer organization affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, was confronted by students who objected to the group's perceived political agenda.

According to the students' union, at least six students were injured, some assaulted with knives, chased, had their clothes ripped and phones taken. The union demands heightened security and the arrest of the perpetrators, while police now guard the institute's entrance. The consumer group counters that its members were also attacked and that students vandalized its posters. Tensions persist as students accuse authorities of pressuring them to resume classes without safety guarantees.