LUCKNOW, Sept. 20 -- Violence by students of La Martiniere College, Lucknow, during the Inter-Martiniere Meet 2025, on August 26 and 27, has led to the cancellation of all future inter-Martiniere meets. This year, the meet was held in Kolkata where students clashed following which Dr Paritosh Canning, Bishop of Calcutta and president, board of ex-officio governors, La Martiniere, Kolkata, wrote a letter stating that in view of the incidents, students from La Martiniere for Girls and La Martiniere for Boys, Kolkata, will not participate in any meet in the future. HT has a copy of the letter written by Bishop Canning, saying: "There were two cases of physical assault and violence by students of La Martiniere College, Lucknow, during the meet and the violence resulted in slashing one of the students with a sharp object in the neck that led to a deep cut and unruly behaviour including violence by the boys from La Martiniere College, Lucknow, including violence during a football match," In a strongly worded letter dated September 8, 2025, the Bishop wrote: "Students from La Martiniere College, Lucknow, were extremely indisciplined and unruly during basketball and football matches. The boys also damaged a few ceiling fans in the dormitory. In view of the incident, our students (from La Martiniere for Girls and La Martiniere for Boys, Kolkata) will not be participating in any meet in future." The Bishop sent this letter to justice Attau Rahman Masoodi, senior judge Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad high court and chairman of the local committee of governors, La Martiniere College, Lucknow. When contacted, La Martiniere College principal Garry Dominic Everett, however, refused to speak on the issue saying he is busy attending a conference and will speak on return to Lucknow. Aashrita Dass, principal of La Martiniere Girls College said, "The inter-Martiniere meet is a legacy we have inherited and I don't believe it can be stopped in this fashion. There is no reasoning behind this decision. At the last meeting on August 29, all 4 persons in-charge of La Martiniere - have set the dates for next year's meet. What happened after our meeting we don't know. "We shall be writing to Bishop Canning to reconsider this arbitrary decision. We have not understood the reason for calling off inter-Martiniere meets," she said. Old Martinians too are voicing anger on social media following the cancellation of all future inter-Martiniere meets. They said the 95-year-old cannot be discontinued unilaterally and in an arbitrary manner. "Cancelling the inter-Martiniere meets because a few boys got into a scuffle with each other is like beheading as a cure for dandruff," said past pupil and senior advocate at the Lucknow high court, Jaideep Mathur. Another past pupil, Faisal Husain wrote: "Those people who have not studied for a reasonable period in Mart(iniere) do not have the Mart(iniere) spirit, which takes some time to imbibe..." Carlyle McFarland, former principal and past pupil of the La Martiniere College, Lucknow, in a Facebook post on September 11 wrote: "Founder's Week this year, 2025, has been dampened by a hurried reference, posted on social media, regarding the rather arbitrary cancellation of all future inter-Martiniere meets between the schools in Kolkata and Lucknow. Apparently, this has been dictated by Bishop of Kolkata in his capacity as chairman of the Kolkata schools."...