Bhubaneswar, Dec. 7: Agitating students of Ramadevi Women's University today demanded the resignation of the varsity's officer on special duty Padmaja Mishra for her lack of knowledge regarding the impasse at the institution.
"If an officer on special duty says she has no knowledge of the incident and what happened to the students, then she has no right to continue as head of an institution," said one of the students, who did not wish to be named.
"Had she taken timely action, the matter would not have reached this magnitude. She paid no heed to our grievances and instead of meting out justice to the aggrieved, she took sides. She stayed on the side that would benefit her. This is not the way head of an institution behaves during a crisis," said a student.
Although the students could not meet governor S.C. Jamir, they met Pradesh Congress Committee president Prasad Harichandan to discuss their next course of action.
Earlier, leader of Opposition Narasingha Mishra served a privilege motion against parliamentary affairs minister Bikram Keshari Arukh in the Assembly for misleading the House over the detention of the students. Mishra alleged the minister's statement on the issue was not based on facts and made intentionally to mislead the House. He also said that although video footages and other evidences were available, Arukh misled the House with his statement.
Speaker Niranjan Pujari said a decision on the privilege motion would be taken after studying it.
In other development, the issue of detaining students at Ramadevi Women's University sparked off protests at campuses across the state. In Bhubaneswar, students of Utkal University burnt an effigy of chief minister Naveen Patnaik on the issue.
"Despite the magnitude of the situation, the chief minister has kept quiet on the issue. No action has been taken either against the officer on special duty or the police personnel involved," said Sanghamitra Jena, a student.
Protests were also reported from the campuses of Rajdhani College, Maharishi College and College of Engineering. The students have plans to gherao the residences of various ministers tomorrow.
