Sit-ins held protesting harassment of Amartya Sen

A section of intellectuals of West Bengal today held a sit-in demonstration near the ancestral house of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen in Santiniketan, protesting the notice issued by Visva-Bharati University to the economist to vacate the premises.

In the notice, the university authority said Sen would "face eviction" if he did not vacate the 5,500 sq ft land, of the total 1.38 acres, held by him "illegally".

Among the intellectuals who took part in the protest, held for the second consecutive day, were filmmaker Goutam Ghose and artists Suvaprasanna and Jogen Chowdhury, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

On a separate podium, set up nearby, leaders of the state's ruling party TMC sat in protest. They included State Minister Chandranath Sinha. Scores of party activists too joined them.

"I have come all the way from Kolkata to voice my protest against the harassment and insult to an internationally respected economist like Amartya Sen who is the country's pride. The way his land issue is being treated by Visva-Bharati authorities is unfortunate as the matter is sub-judice," Goutam Ghose said.

Chandranath Sinha said people of Bengal are aghast over the treatment meted out to Sen by the university and the "democratic protest" will continue for the next few days.

The protests followed sit-ins by the "Committee for Protection of Social Dignity" which too was held in front of of Pratichi, Sen's house, on Friday.

Rabindranath Tagore's drama "Rakta Karabi" was staged as a mark of protest and local people and Ashramites of Visva-Bharati protested by singing Rabindra sangeet.

Visva-Bharati spokesperson Mahua Banerjee said, "The matter is in the court. We respect its order and the law of the land. We have lodged a complaint to the competent authorities against the sit-ins."

The Calcutta High Court on May 4 gave an interim stay against an eviction order of Visva-Bharati asking Sen to vacate 5,500 sq ft of land at his ancestral Santiniketan residence by May 6. An appeal for a stay on possible eviction was fixed for hearing later in the month at a court in Suri.

Visva-Bharati had sent the eviction notice to Sen on April 19, asking him to vacate 13 decimal of the 1.38 acres land of his residence within May 6.

The university has been claiming that Sen is in possession of 1.38 acre of land in the Santiniketan campus, which is in excess of his legal entitlement of 1.25 acres