Malda, Feb. 20: A section of third-year students of Samsi College assaulted the acting principal, Apurba Chakraborty, and ransacked his office last night, demanding that they be allowed to sit for the final exams.

Twenty-three students had gheraoed Chakraborty in his chamber for almost 10 hours yesterday, till a police team and two of his colleagues rescued him around 10pm. The students continued the agitation for nearly seven hours today.

The college authorities had not allowed the 23 final-year students to fill up forms for the exams as they had zero per cent attendance.

The agitation was withdrawn around 7pm today after the students submitted an application to the acting principal addressed to the vice-chancellor of North Bengal University that governs the college.

“It is statutory that a student should have at least 75 per cent attendance. It was the university that had formulated the rule, and not me. I cannot flout a university decision. What shocked me was that some of my students had pushed me around and used abusive language,” Chakraborty (47) said.

The acting principal said he had informed the police yesterday so that the situation did not go out of control. “Today I lodged a formal complaint, but did not name anyone.”

Some students, on the other hand, denied the zero per cent attendance charge against them. They claimed that they had been attending the college irregularly to study at home. “We did not waste time by coming to the college where classes are not held regularly and teaching is poor,” said a student on condition of anonymity. “Even the acting principal himself does not come to the college regularly,” one of them alleged.

Kanak Mondal, one of the affected students, burst into tears. He said he met the cost of his education by giving private tuition, which kept him from college.

Malda district police chief Satyajit Banerjee said a picket has been set up in the college.