SRFTI Kolkata protest day 42: classes shut till 11 December

Representative image. Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Why it matters

SRFTI is run under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and many of its students come from outside West Bengal. With hostels shut and teaching suspended until 11 December, they lose time on courses that the vice-chancellor himself says already run years beyond their planned length.

The student protest at the SRFTI Kolkata campus, the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute on the city’s Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, reached its 42nd day on Saturday, 7 November 2026, with classes suspended until 11 December. On the eve of Diwali, the student union posted that “This Diwali we choose to resist”, while the institute’s registrar said the faculty and administration were ready to teach again, The Hindu reported.

The film institute is run under the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The campus closure order has been extended after a review with the deans of the film wing and the electronic and digital media (EDM) wing, a senior official told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency on Thursday, 5 November. Hostels and the mess are shut, and many protesting students have been staying in a makeshift tent, according to The Hindu.

What both sides said at SRFTI Kolkata on 7 November

In its Diwali post, the student union said the festival had always been special on campus, but this year it was overshadowed by fear, uncertainty and what it called a struggle for justice. The day they get justice will be Deepavali for them, the union said, as quoted in The Hindu’s report.

Registrar Deepak Kumar told the paper on the same day that “a section of students continues to remain disengaged from academics” and was disrupting the institute through repeated violations of its rules and orders. He said the administration was asking students to come forward for dialogue.

According to The Hindu, at least 25 students had received show-cause notices by 7 November, 11 of them on 5 November. Six SRFTI students have been rusticated, and the paper reported that one FIR has been registered against a student union office-bearer. The students deny the allegations against them.

The dispute over teachers, hostels and the mess

Another dispute in the SRFTI protest is over action against staff who taught or supported the protesting students. The accounts differ on the details. The Indian Express, citing a union statement of 5 November, reported that two contractual faculty members had been suspended and six resource persons (visiting teachers) removed. PTI and The Hindu, citing the students, said two contractual faculty members were terminated and five resource persons discontinued.

Registrar Kumar told the Indian Express that decisions on contractual faculty follow their terms of engagement and the institute’s rules. On the resource persons, he said there was “presently no academic justification for calling resource persons” while classes stayed suspended, and that they would return once classes restart.

The students also told PTI that a faculty member had been served a show-cause notice for allegedly helping cinematographer and documentary filmmaker Ranjan Palit enter the campus to hold a workshop. PTI’s report did not carry the administration’s answer on that specific notice.

Vice-Chancellor Santosh Ajmera told the Indian Express that his main concern was academics and the students’ future. He said courses designed for two or three years were taking five to six years to finish, and that hostels are meant for students only for the prescribed length of their course. The students, for their part, have alleged that the vice-chancellor is on leave until 16 November while the mess and other basic facilities stay closed. In a statement reported by PTI, they said they had been deprived of food, drinking water, electricity and Wi-Fi. Officials told PTI that a handful of students were driven by “outside elements” and were politicising the issue.

Who says what in the SRFTI protest

The table below puts each side’s stated position next to the other’s, as reported between 6 and 8 November 2026.

Issue	Students say	Administration says
Class suspension till 11 December	Collective punishment instead of a solution (PTI)	Decided after review with deans; staff ready to resume classes (PTI, The Hindu)
Teachers and resource persons	Removed for standing by students (IE, PTI)	Contract terms followed; resource persons return when classes do (IE)
Hostels and mess	Basic needs cut off (PTI)	Hostels are for the course’s prescribed length (IE)
Discipline	Allegations against students denied (The Hindu)	Action over defacement, provocative writings and intimidation of officials (The Hindu)

How the SRFTI standoff began: a timeline

The unrest started at an event on campus organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), a consumer body affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Students said they were attacked by outsiders; the organisers said students attacked them, the Indian Express reported. Since then, SRFTI students have demanded the vice-chancellor’s resignation, action against the attackers and the withdrawal of police from the campus.

• 27 September: clash on campus during the ABGP event; several students hurt, The Hindu reported.
• 4 October: a second alleged attack, during a rally by the Bangiya Hindu Jagaran Manch, when bricks and bottles were thrown at students from outside, according to the Indian Express. PTI described it as a second alleged attack.
• 15 October: six students rusticated over alleged vandalism of the vice-chancellor’s office and manhandling him.
• 16 October: academic work in the film and EDM wings suspended; students told to leave the campus within 24 hours (PTI).
• Durga Puja break: vacation extended to 13 November and the hostel mess closed (Indian Express).
• 5 November: an official tells PTI the closure now runs to 11 December; 11 more show-cause notices issued, The Hindu reported.
• 7 November: day 42; union’s Diwali post and the registrar’s call for dialogue.

NewsPlainly covered the October rustications and the union’s call for a campus protest in an earlier report on the SRFTI protest.

When classes could restart at the film institute

On the current order, academic activity stays suspended until 11 December. The reports read do not say whether the institute will review the order before then, or what will happen to the six rusticated students and the staff whose roles are in dispute.

For SRFTI students from other states, the closure of hostels has been the hardest part, The Hindu reported, since many of them have no home in Kolkata. The SRFTI Kolkata closure notice itself could not be found on the home page of the film institute’s website when NewsPlainly checked on the morning of 8 November, so this article relies on the reports by The Hindu, the Indian Express and PTI.

Frequently asked questions

Why is SRFTI Kolkata closed?

A student protest began on 27 September after a clash on campus. The institute suspended academic work in its film and EDM wings on 16 October, and on 5 November an official told PTI the closure had been extended to 11 December after a review with the deans.

What do the SRFTI students want?

They want the vice-chancellor to resign, action against those who attacked them on campus, the withdrawal of police from the campus, and the reinstatement of teachers removed during the protest, according to the Indian Express.

How many SRFTI students face action?

Six students have been rusticated and at least 25 have received show-cause notices, 11 of them on 5 November, The Hindu reported on 8 November.