Teachers at Jadavpur University have said that “just as students have the right to agitate for their demands, teachers too have the right to return home after meetings”. Detaining teachers and officials for hours “in this pandemic situation”, they have warned, “can have severe, if not fatal, consequences”.

The Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association (Juta) has flagged the points in a letter to vice-chancellor Suranjan Das, days after teachers and officials were gheraoed by the students’ union of the engineering faculty over alleged lapses in the online Jadavpur University Management System (JUMS). That siege continued from around 4pm till midnight.

“You will agree that just as students have the right to agitate for their demands, teachers too have the right to return home after meetings. Staying inside a confined space for nearly twelve hours in this pandemic situation can have severe, if not fatal, consequences, especially for those who suffer from various ailments, as many teachers and officials do,” reads the letter from Juta.

VC Das declined to comment when Metro asked him about the letter.

Aritra Majumder, a leader of the engineering and technology students’ union at JU, said: “Corona is not the sole crisis. We are of the view that demands regarding the results are of immediate concern to us…. Realising the importance of the demands being raised by the students, we would suggest the teachers rethink their stand.”

Juta had on November 25 issued a statement blaming students for the resignation of two acting deans of science over the past couple of months and said they were noting with “dismay and concern” the harassment and humiliation a section of teachers was subjected to by some students in the science faculty.

The latest friction between students and teachers had started when the Faculty of Engineering and Technology Students’ Union (Fetsu) led agitations on December 9 and 11 over alleged anomalies in the management system.

According to Juta’s letter, the dean of the faculty of engineering and technology and two pro-vice-chancellors had been kept confined for several hours on December 9.

On December 11, during a meeting of the JUMS Restructuring Committee, a section of students, “including, most unfortunately, some who were themselves members of the Committee, prevented other members of the Committee (teachers and officials), from leaving the meeting even after discussions had been concluded”, says the letter.

The teachers were detained till 1.30am.

The association has said that given the past few days’ events and the prevailing situation, its members would not join any in-person meeting. “They are, of course, willing to join virtual meetings, where their health and safety will not be jeopardised,” the letter says.

Parthapratim Roy, the general secretary of the teachers’ association, who had signed the previous statement, told this newspaper that teachers and officials might have no option but to boycott meetings of the JUMS Restructuring Committee.

“Amid the pandemic, they are keeping the teachers confined in a small room regardless of the fact that this could have fatal implications. Just as I had observed in regard to the activities of the science union, I will say student leaders in the engineering faculty don’t know where to draw a line,” said Roy.

A JU official said two statements from Juta in as many months against highhandedness of students was bound to affect the image of the university.

“One-third of the 1,253 BTech seats have remained vacant this year after the end of centralised counseling by the JEE board. About 15 per cent undergraduate seats in science and arts have remained vacant... Such a situation could not be conceived earlier and this could be partly attributed to the perception problem,” he said.