RTI and GU
Image. credit Northeast Now

A group of students from Pragjyotish College, who went to Gauhati University to file an RTI, were denied by the university authorities to do so after which they lodged an FIR at Jalukbari Police Station against the varsity authorities.

The students alleged that at around 4 in the afternoon on Saturday, they went to the deputy controller’s office of Gauhati University.

Before approaching the deputy controller directly, they approached the staff members to seek permission, which was denied.

“An employee of the university named as Isfaqul Haque allegedly misbehaved with the students and when one of the students tried to record the incident on camera, Haque threw it and hit one of the complainants,” the students alleged.

Also read: Bajali College students protest against GU over suspicious semester result

A student of the college shared a post in the social media platforms along with a video which went viral,

“We almost about 30 students of Pragjyotish College went to the Gauhati University today to file RTI which the university declined, we were mentally harrased by the staff members. It was 4 o’clock this afternoon, where we went to The DEPUTY CONTROLLER’s office, before approaching the DEPUTY directly we asked one of the staff members to seek permission from him, he denied ….and when we asked him to make it a little quick because the office hours are until 5 in the evening, the guy named (Isfaqul Haque) who behaved inappropriately with us and when I personally took in charge to make a video, he grabbed my phone and threw it and hit one of our girls…,” the student stated the post on his facebook account.

He acontinued: “Seeing the tension in air, we approached to the DEPUTY (controller) directly and he said, ‘you cannot file RTI, university is not incharge of your problems, your marks are not our concern’.”

The student questioned how the deputy controller of the university can “stop” them from filing RTI.

“Who gave them rights to raise their hands on the student? Why did they destroy private property? The guy who misbehaved with us ran directly to the DEPUTY’s office and hid himself behind him,” the student further stated on his FB post.

He quoted the deputy controller as saying: “We are nobody to take action.”

The student also quoted another man as claiming, “we are with our power, nobody can replace us.”

He questioned: “Who gave these corrupt officers so much power? Who gave them rights to put their hands on us? Who are supporting them? We the mass has no value? Why are we suppressed always? They told us to go for a recheck which cost 220 rupees per paper. The question is why will we pay money if we aren’t the one behind the problem? Why will we waste money?”

It may be mentioned that on Friday, a section of students from Bajali College also registered their protest shouting slogans and demanding solution to their problems. The students were seen chanting slogans like ‘Gauhati University hai hai’, ‘Gauhati University go back’, ‘we want accurate results’.

The students section alleged irregularity and faulty evaluation of their answer book as number of student got unbelievable marks in their papers.

A section of students expressed their resentment and demanded early solution of the problem of the examination system.

A student also said that it is a threat to their future to continue studies in this juncture. They said that the present system of appeal for rechecking take long time and students have to suffer a lot in the system.

The unexpected back even after good performance by the students leads them to blink future a section of students also alleged.

“In statistics department out of 25 students, 21 got backlogs on their 5th semester examination. Majority of the students have scored the same CGPA. While some of students said that they scored ‘0’ zero marks on their subject.How is this possible? We appeal the University authorities to not play with our future,” said a student.

“Only a few days left for our final semester exams to begin. The varsity authorities must look into the issue,” added another student.

Sasanka Talukdar is Northeast Now Correspondent in Pathsala. He can be reached at: [email protected]