VB extends suspension of 3 students till mid-October

Visva Bharati University has extended the suspension of three students till mid-October on the ground that the inquiry panel against them is yet to submit its findings.

The three - Somnath Sow, Falguni Pan and Rupa Chakraborty - were suspended for three months from January 14 for allegedly violating discipline and disturbing the atmosphere of the campus by their activities.

However, on March 14 their suspension was extended for another three months on the ground that an inquiry committee being formed to probe the charges.

As the three month period was about to expire again this month, the Proctor Shankar Majumder in a letter to the three extended the suspension for another three months till October ''till the inquiry process is completed.'' One of the three suspended students Sow said ''the Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty in a vindictive manner is extending our suspension period and depriving us of justice.'' ''If any of us now commit suicide the onus will be on the VC and his coterie of officials. He is destroying our career,'' Sow, leader of the Students Federation of India unit in the university, said.

The SFI gave a call for a demonstration at the university in protest against the extension of suspension.

While Sow and Pan are students of the Economics and Politics department, Chakraborty belong to Hindustani Classical music.

Varsity officials were not available for comments while a section of faculty said the three were subjected to punishment for criticising certain decisions of the management in past.