AU students clash with cops,14 arrested

The incident took place after a joint students’ forum of Allahabad Central University and other constituent degree colleges held a meeting in the university campus on Wednesday morning for their long-pending demand of restoring students’ union elections.

After the meeting,student leaders went to Vice-Chancellor Rajen Harshe’s office to hand him a memorandum. Chief Proctor Jata Shankar,however,asked the students to give the memorandum to him. But the students refused to do so. Amid this,a stone thrown from a distance hit a student,which resulted in a stampede and the police had to resort to lathicharge to control the mob.

The agitating students,however,claimed they were protesting peacefully when some other group started pelting stones. Irked over the lathicharge,the students laid siege of the area around the campus and damaged university property. When police tried to enter the premises,they even chased them away.

Six students were reported to have been critically injured.

“The university administration is sending a list of 12 students to the Colonelganj police for lodging of an FIR.

I think the incident was deliberately made violent by students who did not want to hold peaceful dialogue,” said Jata Shankar.

The students of all degree colleges and the university had formed a joint forum to press their demand for the restoration of student union elections in the campus. Until Wednesday,they had been protesting peacefully.

Following the incident,the students burnt the effigy of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for not supporting their demand and planned to continue their agitation on Thursday.

“The vice-chancellor has not been implementing the recommendations of the Lyngdoh Committee report. We will not stop our agitation till the administration accepts our demands,” said Abhisekh Yadav,a student leader.