Around 10 students were injured; four of them had to be admitted to a hospital.
Rival factions within West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress's students wing, clashed at the Gaurbanga University in Malda on Monday, forcing the party's general secretary and education minister Partha Chatterjee to promise to step in and resolve the problem.
Around 10 students were injured; four of them had to be admitted to a hospital. The clash was allegedly over the control of the university union room.
"We do not support such behaviour," he said after video footage of the ugly clashes went viral. A girl student is verbally abused by a young man, she attacks him, he runs away with his friends, the girl and her friends give chase and beat up some men.
One youngster, allegedly an outsider, was hit on the head with bricks. A girl is also seen falling unconscious in the video.
The police, who later arrived on the campus, was violently confronted by students. Some of them lay down in front of the police vehicles restricting their entry.
Sources say the trouble erupted as a result of infighting within the party itself, between leaders who have had their wings clipped against those in power.
The student unions elections are expected to be held in January. The Trinamool Chatra Parishad controls 90 per cent of the colleges in the state today. But infighting has been a problem.
Vice Chancellor Gopal Mishra, who was not in Malda at the time of the incident, has said he will ensure no outsiders are allowed into the campus.