BYE-BYE BOOKS, HELLO BATONS: A hat-trick of SFI vs IC clashes forced the Besu authorities to declare an indefinite shutdown on Thursday afternoon. Students were asked to vacate hostels as police clamped Section 144 on the Shibpur campus. Pictures by Gopal Senapati

Students left the campus and cops took over as the Bengal Engineering and Science University (Besu) was shut down for an indefinite period on Thursday afternoon.

With clashes between supporters of the Students Federation of Indian (SFI) and the Independent Consolidation (IC) entering the third day, the authorities clamped Section 144 and ordered all male students to vacate the Shibpur campus by 4pm on Thursday.

The flouting of Section 144 — joining unlawful assembly — is punishable with imprisonment up to two years.

The IC controls the students’ union and the SFI is desperate to wrest control in the elections scheduled for end-November, said a faculty member at Besu.

Flashpoint was reached around 10am on Thursday when two groups of students clashed inside the electrical department while classes were on.

The Rapid Action Force (RAF) and the district combat force were called in. They invaded the department and launched a baton-charge on the students.

Eleven students were arrested for “causing violence” and assaulting Anjan Chakraborty, the deputy superintendent of police (town-south), Howrah. Some students sustained injuries and were given first-aid.

“Classes were suspended for an indefinite period and all the boys were asked to vacate their respective hostel rooms by 4pm. In the wake of the clashes we were forced to ask police to take over the campus and maintain law and order,” said Biman Bandyopadhyay, the registrar of Besu.

Many of the girls, however, chose to leave the campus till classes resume.

“Policemen will be deployed on the campus till normalcy is restored. We are questioning some faculty members as well to find out what triggered Thursday’s clash,” said the Howrah superintendent of police Niraj Kumar Singh.

Preliminary investigation revealed that pre-poll trouble first broke out on Tuesday night when two students belonging to the IC were allegedly beaten up by SFI members near Wolfenden Hall.

The second round of clashes broke out on Wednesday evening, prompting the authorities to call in the police and clamp a night curfew on campus.

“Both groups lodged complaints and counter complaints at Shibpur police station late on Wednesday. Policemen were posted on campus at night. But things spun out of control on Thursday morning,” said Singh.

Rajarshee Dutta, a fourth-year student owing allegiance to the IC, said SFI members were “deliberately causing trouble on campus” to ensure that the elections were pushed back.

Russell Aziz, an SFI supporter, claimed that the IC members wanted to “tarnish the image” of the institution on the eve of the visit of a team from the National Board of Accreditation on Friday to rate Besu.