Two teachers from Kolkata’s Presidency University, Satyadeo Prasad and Anil Pushker, who were terminated from their respective jobs earlier this month, were allegedly denied campus entry yesterday. Despite a High Court order which stayed their termination, the teachers were prevented from discharging their duties.

While the authorities have declined to comment, the two faculty members have claimed that their termination was because of casteist discrimination and professional jealousy.

Following their termination, both Prasad and Pushker filed a writ petition with the Kolkata High Court, where a bench of Justice Anirudh Ghosh and Sidharth Chatterjee put a stay on it.

“When I reached campus on Monday with the court order, I was stopped at the gate by the security guards who asked me if I had permission to enter the campus. After a verbal fight with the security guards, I managed to get in,”Pushkar told Newslaundry.

“It was very obvious that these guards were given instructions to stop us from entering the campus. As we moved towards the Department, another security guard told us that we should register our names at the main gate, since we entered through the second gate,” said Prasad.

The two teachers also allege that the University Registrar Debajyoti Konar treated them with contempt. “We managed to reach the Registrar’s office around 11:50 am to seek permission to go inside,” Pushkar said. “Instead of letting us inside the Registrar’s cabin, the security guard grabbed the court order and our application (requesting permission to perform our duties).”

“We waited for two hours. At 2 pm, the guard returned the court order saying that the order can’t be received,” Prasad added. “We were directed to leave the campus. However, we have sent the court order to registrar by speed post. Now, we will see how he is going to send it back,” he added.

When contacted, the Registrar declined to comment.

Newslaundry had earlier reported about the dismissal of the two faculty members mentioned above. Read the article here.