A drama unfolded at Islampur College in North Dinajpur district on Friday when a section of students resorted to protests, accusing some teachers of dereliction of duties.

The teachers, in turn, argued with the protesters.

On April 8, the teacher-in-charge (TIC), Uzair Ahmad, had quit after teachers had held a demonstration outside his chamber, alleging financial corruption and academic malpractices. In his letter addressed to the governing body's president, Ahmad said he was stepping down because of family-related issues.

When some of the teachers who had protested against Ahmad reached the college on Friday, a section of students launched a demonstration. They were seen carrying placards bearing the names of two faculty members.

“We want to know why these teachers have raised baseless charges against the TIC. These teachers are irregular in their duties, and because of them, academic activities are getting affected,” said one of the protesters.

Two teachers, Mamata Sengupta and Kanchan Roy, approached the agitators and voiced their protests. This led to an argument, and after some time, both sides left the spot.

“As we had voiced our protests against the TIC over corruption issues, some youths have been incited against us. We have serious doubts whether they are students. When we reached the college, they tried to confine us and attempted to assault us,” said Sengupta.

“We will not stop raising our voices. We had sought clarification from the erstwhile TIC on 36 issues, and if he doesn’t reply, we will approach the state higher education department,” she added.

Islampur College has around 14,000 students.

Ahmad, the former TIC, brushed aside the charges against him.

He said, at a meeting of the governing body on March 22, it was decided that a biometric attendance system for teachers would be introduced. Accordingly, a notice was issued on March 24, and from April 1, it was made mandatory for all teachers to use the biometric attendance system.

“This decision irked some of the teachers who reach the college late and are irregular in their duties. They raised some baseless charges against me the following day and tried to blemish my reputation,” Ahmad said.