SFI's Shaharul Haque lodges FIR against Cachar College Principal, ABVP Members; "I didn't go to College on Sunday," Nitish Tiwari counters

On July 24, Police officials had to walk in to the campus of prestigious Cachar College located at the heart of Silchar. The constables went inside and rescued Saharul  Haque Mazumdar, a student of the College also the Students’ Federation of India’s Cachar Committee Secretary. According to him, he and a few other members of the SFI were painting the walls of the college to communicate their point of view to the larger population. They said, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had already painted many walls and so, they too indulged keeping in sync with their national initiative.

While this is a common activity in most Colleges across the country, on Sunday, according to Mazumdar it took a wrong turn. He says, he was outside the gate of the College and the Principal called him in. “I went to respond to the Principal’s call. As soon as I did so, he abused me using derogatory words. I asked him why he was abusing me and before I could get a response a few ABVP students started assaulting me. They pushed me inside the college and locked the door from outside. Then Nitish Tiwari, Rahul Kanu and Shri Joydeep started assaulting me with intentions to kill me,” said Saharul after walking out of the College on Sunday.

On Monday, he has lodged an FIR stating the same. In the FIR, he has accused the Principal of Cachar College, Siddhartha Shankar Nath, and the three ABVP members. “I have lodged the FIR against the Principal as he was very much leading the assault against me. When I was begging before him to rescue me from the goons, he said the work that I have done deserves such punishment. To that I replied stating that if I have done a crime he should call the Police and lodge a probe but why call goons to beat me up,” Saharul said while speaking with the press.

Saharul has alleged that the Principal went on to say, that all the SFI members in the College will be expelled. “The students who had accompanied me, contacted CPI(M)’s Cachar District Secretary and advocate, Dulal Mitra who informed the matter to the Police and the constables rescued me at 7:00pm while they started beating me around 5:00pm,” he wrote in complaint.

Nitish Tiwari, also a student of the College and a member of the ABVP whom Saharul has accused of beating him, has rubbished the charges. “It was a Sunday and I have not visited the College premises. I am no way associated with the incident that is being discussed,” he said while speaking with Barak Bulletin. He asserted that, there is nothing more he has to share on this matter.

It is worth mentioning here that Nitish Tiwari’s name was mentioned by Saharul on Sunday night as well. That is when he was a couple of other students intervened and said, “If you were assaulted inside the school, how can it be Nitish Tiwari as he was outside the premises.” The couple of students raising that point were abused on camera by the gathering outside the college which included famous local leaders of the CPI(M).

Rohit Chanda, State Executive Member Assam Pradesh & Joint Secretary, ABVP Silchar Unit too distanced the right-wing Students’ body form the incident allegedly involving assault of SFI chair-holder, “I want to make that clear, those rivalry was just in between the members of Student Federation of India (SFI) and Cachar College Administration. ABVP has nothing to do with those futile altercation.”

The Cachar College Principal Siddhartha Shankar Nath was not available for a comment.