2014 Jadavpur University protests

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Hokkolorob Movement
Students rally against the vice chancellor at Jadavpur University campus, Kolkata, circa 8 January 2015
Date	3 September 2014 – 12 January 2015
Location	Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Guwahati ,[1] India
Caused by	Laxity in the investigation of an alleged case of molestation on campus Police brutality on unarmed students taking part in a non-violent sit in demonstration
Goals	An unbiased, transparent, fast investigation of the allegation with appropriate legal committee according to vishakha guidelines. Resignation of the Vice Chancellor.
Methods	Demonstrations Internet activism Hashtag activism
Status	Past
Casualties
Injuries	40
Arrested	37

The Hok Kolorob Movement (Bengali: হোক কলরব আন্দোলন) or the 2014 Jadavpur University student protest, was a four-month long series of protests by the students of Jadavpur University in Kolkata, India that began on 3 September 2014. The term "Hok Kolorob" (meaning "let there be polyphony", Bengali: হোক কলরব) was originally the title of a song by Bangladeshi singer Arnob, written by Rajib Ashraf, and began to be used as a hashtag on Facebook.^[2]

On 16 September 2014, peaceful demonstrations by students took place in front of the administrative building of the University, demanding an investigation into the alleged molestation of a female student in campus. After several unsuccessful attempts at dialogue with the authorities, the students gheraoed some personnel of the university authority, including Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti. The vice-chancellor called the police, who dispersed the students by force in the early hours of 17 September. This triggered a wave of protests by students and teachers.

Criticisms of the force included that police used baton charge on a peaceful demonstration, that female students were manhandled and molested by male police officers, and that several men who were not in uniform attacked the students. The police maintained that there were plainclothesmen among their ranks while the students insist that these were Trinamool Congress (the ruling party of the state of West Bengal) cadres. The official position of the Calcutta Police is that "minimum lawful force" was applied to escort the vice-chancellor and other members of the committee out of the university.^[3][4]

Demonstrations showing solidarity with the students started in Kolkata and across India, including in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.^[5][6][7][8] There was progressively increasing turnout in protest marches in Kolkata;^[9] it culminated in a rally on 20 September, at the end of which a delegation of students met Governor of West Bengal, Keshari Nath Tripathi.^[10] Estimates of participants in the rally fluctuate between thirty thousand and a hundred thousand people.^[11][12]

The protests had a strong cultural flavour: students sang, danced, and arranged diverse cultural manifestations throughout the days during the demonstration. The protests have a large oeuvre of posters, graffiti, poems, songs, slogans, street plays, and performances dotting the university campus and the streets of Kolkata.^[11][12] It led the Trinamool Congress to link this protest to the student movements of the 1970s.^[13] It is one of the first movements in India to significantly employ social media and internet activism for coordination and dissemination.^[14]