The protest by students of Jawaharlal Nehru University escalated further on Monday as students took out a march heading towards Parliament House. It is the first day of the winter session of Parliament, and anticipating the students’ march, security was beefed up around Parliament House.
JNU students have been protesting the hike in hostel fees, imposition of dress code and curfew timings for three weeks now.
The students were stopped within a kilometre from the univarsity campus by police. Ten companies of forces were deployed outside the campus to stop the students. Students were quoted by various newspapers saying they had been beaten with batons near Safdarjang Tomb, and many had been detained. Some students are reported to be treated at Safdarjung Hospital, according to CPI(ML) politburo member Kavita Krishnan. The police authorities have said beating up the students will be looked into.
Entry and exit gates of four Delhi Metro stations were closed temporarily as hundreds of students took to the streets to demand full rollback of the fee hike at JNU. The Metro stations closed were Udyog Bhawan, Patel Chowk and Central Secretariat stations. The Delhi Metro authorities on the Twitter account also said that trains would not stop at the Lok Kalyan Marg station.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development announced this morning that a three-member committee had been formed to discuss the issues and instruct the university administration towards resolution.
Last week, the JNU authorities had announced partial rollback of the fees following massive protests by the students on the varsity’s convocation day on November 11. However, the students have refused to accept this and are demanding full rollback.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said a peaceful protest was being forcibly stopped by the police. He said that this was such a strong contingent of police had not even been deployed during Emergency.
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