Students close faculty to protest assault on Prof Panikkar

Vadodara, July 7 (UNI) The two-month-long class boycott agitation by teachers and students of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the premier M S University of Baroda took a new turn today with the agitators closing the faculty protesting against yesterday's mob attack on their suspended in-charge dean Prof Shivaji Panikkar.

Soon after Prof Panikkar was attacked allegedly by an ABVP mob at Ahmedabad yesterday, Dean of the Faculty Prof Deepak Kannal, who was playing the role of a mediator to resolve the stand off between the MSU authorities and the agitating students and teachers, tendered his resignation from the post expressing his anguish over the incident.

The students threatened to ''paralyse'' the university if their five-point charter of demands, including reinstatement of Prof Panikkar, withdrawal of case against student Chandramohan and condemnation of unlawful intrusion of BJP leader Niraj Jain into the faculty, were not conceded by the authorities.

The teachers and students boycotted their classes and resorted to an indefinite dharna demonstration before the faculty of Fine Arts on May 9, 2007 after the controversial BJP leader, Mr Jain, along with his supporters and police barged into the faculty, allegedly abused Prof Panikkar and other staff members and got student Chandramohan arrested for his ''obscene'' paintings on Hindu god and goddesses.

Chandramohan, whose paintings were on display in the faculty for the university examination, was arrested by the police on the charges of hurting the religious sentiments of the people through his ''obscene'' paintings.

Two days later, the university authorities placed the then in-charge dean Prof Panikkar under suspension for defending students and teachers' demand for immediate release of Chandramohan and also allowing the agitating students to put up yet another exhibition in the faculty to showcase their protests.

Following yesterday's physical attack on Prof Panikkar, a large number of social activists, alumni members, and representatives of teachers' associations, gathered at the Fine Arts faculty today and strongly condemned the incident and the university's inaction.

Later, the striking teachers and students, wearing black badges, marched to the collectorate and submitted a memorandum to collector Rajiv Topno demanding his immediate intervention and an inquiry into the incident.

For the first time since the agitation began on May 9, the university authorities and the striking teachers and students did come to the negotiating table on May 5 to resolve the deadlock, but the talks failed as Prof Panikkar remained adamant on his stand not to tender a written apology on the issue.

UNI