Fifteen-odd students of a central Calcutta college barred from writing the university exams on grounds of inadequate attendance on Saturday threatened to slit their wrists in front of the principal, who called police.

Armed with blades, the students of City College of Commerce and Business Administration — some of whom have not attended a single class in the semester — encountered principal Sandip Kumar Paul on Saturday morning and demanded that they be allowed to write the tests.

Nearly 350 out of 1,000 candidates in the BCom first and third semesters in the evening section of the college on Surya Sen Street have been refused permission to write the tests as they do not have the mandatory 60 per cent attendance.

When the principal refused to accept the students’ demand, they issued an ultimatum and said they would slit their wrists if they were not allowed to write the exams.

The students warned the principal that he would be “responsible if there is a disaster”, a teacher present in the principal’s room said.

Paul immediately called the Muchipara police station and requested them to prevent any untoward incident.

“We can’t allow any student with less than 60 per cent attendance to write the semester exams. We will have to stick to this decision no matter how much the students threaten us,” principal Paul told Metro.

He, however, said the authorities would meet the students next week and request them to attend classes regularly next time.

The agitation began on Friday evening, when the students gheraoed nearly 30 teachers and non-teaching employees for more than 18 hours.

The college authorities made arrangements to send all women employees home at night despite resistance from the students.

The students submitted a memorandum to the principal around noon on Saturday and apologised for their behaviour, while appealing for permission to write the tests.

The gherao was withdrawn around 12.30pm after the principal accepted the letter. The principal, however, clarified that the students had not been given any assurance.