At least 50 students from various student organisations were detained by police outside the University of Hyderabad (UoH) Wednesday morning for blocking a road during a ‘Chalo University of Hyderabad’ programme. About 100 students had converged at the campus’ main gate which was closed by the university’s security staff for outsiders. Staff and UoH students were allowed after checking credentials. However, when they were not allowed to go inside, the protesting students started raising slogans and traffic came to a standstill as they blocked the road, forcing Cyberabad Police to physically evacuate several students. They were taken away in two police vans and later released. [related-post] The students demanded that Vice-Chancellor P Appa Rao be recalled. They wanted the 76th Academic Council meeting, which was to start inside, to be cancelled. Inside, several students also surrounded the V-C’s Lodge where the meeting was to take place and raised slogans against Rao. Meanwhile, the meeting commenced with members observing a minute’ silence to offer their condolences over the untimely deaths of Professor of Economics A V Raja and PhD scholar Rohith Vemula. “The meeting came on the heels of the announcement of high national ranking achieved by the university and receiving the best rating in meeting the requirement of social justice,” a university statement said. “Many important academic related issues were discussed in the meeting and important decisions were taken. The appointment of an Ombudsman, activating the Equal Opportunities Cell, and the appointment of an Anti-Discrimination Officer in line with relevant UGC Regulations of 2012 were discussed in detail and the council decided to put in place a mechanism to redress relevant issues at the earliest. Other important business at the meeting included finalisation of entrance examination schedule for the admissions for academic year 2016-17,” an official said.
