Students protest against principal Dhrismitha Goswami on Jorhat Law College campus on Friday. Picture by UB Photos

Jorhat, March 11: Students of Jorhat Law College, the oldest law college in Upper Assam, prevented principal Dhrismitha Goswami from entering the college.

The students, who have been on an indefinite boycott, are demanding Goswami’s removal, accusing her of “highhandedness and misbehaviour”.

The teachers are also supporting the students as they recently submitted a written complaint against Goswami to the governing body.

Goswami, who went to college today to resume duty after being on maternity leave since August last year, was not allowed to enter the college by the students who shouted slogans and showed placards against her.

After being stopped at the college gate for over an hour, Goswami had to leave.

The general secretary of the students’ union, Arpan Neog, said the students would continue the boycott unless Goswami was removed by the governing body or she resigned herself. He accused her of running the institute arbitrarily since she joined as principal in 2007.

Echoing Neog, most students said she had been giving “very low” marks in internal semester assessments by adopting a “vindictive attitude towards the students”. They alleged that the career of one Manoj Borah was ruined by Goswami as she gave him low marks.

They said Goswami had not updated the library with books and magazines even though a “good amount” was realised under the said head.

They accused Goswami of disallowing sports and games in the college though Rs 200 was collected annually. When asked why they had not objected or protested earlier, the students said they had come to know about lot of misdeeds during this period.

Denying all accusations, Goswami said this was a conspiracy against her by “some quarters” to remove her while she was on maternity leave. She said it was during her tenure that the college had started the five-year law course since 2008, a part of her efforts to improve the academic condition of the institute. Goswami also said she had given her comments to the governing body regarding the complaint by the teaching staff.

Governing body chairman and retired Supreme Court judge S.N. Phukan said the body would be meeting on Sunday or Monday to discuss the matter.

There are about 450 students with five permanent and six temporary teachers. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi is one of the founder members of the college.