‘Not CJP or BJP, it’s about student rights’: Protests rage nationwide; many detained
In Mumbai, police detained over 150 protesters and registered two FIRs for violating prohibitory orders, taking the total number of cases linked to the agitation to 17.
From smaller, decentralised gatherings across Mumbai to marches in various districts of Bihar, and from hunger strike at a Haryana university to agitations in Tamil Nadu demanding complete abolition of NEET — Protests by students over paper leaks and in protest against Monday’s police action on protesters in New Delhi continued in different parts of the country on Thursday.
In Mumbai, police detained over 150 protesters and registered two FIRs for violating prohibitory orders, taking the total number of cases linked to the agitation to 17. While the large gatherings at Shivaji Park held earlier this week were absent on Thursday, demonstrations were organised at several locations including Mankhurd, Darukhana and Mumbai University’s Kalina campus. “Wherever demonstrations began, participants were detained by police,” said a member of Mumbai Against Suppression of Students (MASS), a collective coordinating a number of protests.
In Bihar, thousands of protesters in Katihar, Darbhanga and Begusarai marched against alleged irregularities in competitive exams. The protests escalated into stone pelting in Katihar, and police using “mild lathicharge” in Begusarai to push back protesters. Several policemen were wounded in Darbhanga clashes. “The situation has been brought under control. Four to five persons have been detained,” Darbhanga DM Kaushal Kumar told reporters.
Meanwhile, hundreds gathered in Guwahati in solidarity with the protests unfolding at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Among the protesters was 22-year-old Balo Yama from Arunachal Pradesh, who is studying in Guwahati. “Everyone wants justice. My cousin gave the NEET this year, and I saw how difficult it is for students to deal with something like a paper leak… This is not about CJP or BJP. It’s about students’ rights,” she said.
In Haryana, students of Kurukshetra University and Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University in Jind took out marches and raised slogans against the Central government. In Jind, lawyers observed a work suspension on the call of the Jind Bar Association while the Hisar Bar Association called upon advocates to abstain from court proceedings Friday. The lawyers alleged students were subjected to excessive force during the police action in Delhi Monday and claimed that female students were also manhandled.
In Tamil Nadu, agitations demanding the complete abolition of NEET intensified across the state with student outfits and political activists staging coordinated demonstrations in Chennai, Madurai and Erode. Members of the SFI and DYFI blocked a railway track in Madurai. Police sources said protesters blocked a train after it arrived at Thiruparankundram, leading to a tense scuffle and physical pushing and shoving between police and the student demonstrators on the tracks.
Leading Tamil filmmakers Pa Ranjith, Vetrimaaran and Ameer led a major anti-NEET demonstration in Egmore. In Kerala, SFI held protests in Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Kottayam, Kochi, Thrissur and Kasaragod, among others, and faced rounds of water cannons used by the police to disperse them, according to visuals on TV channels.
—WITH PTI Inputs, Chennai & Thiruvananthapuram
From smaller, decentralised gatherings across Mumbai to marches in various districts of Bihar, and from hunger strike at a Haryana university to agitations in Tamil Nadu demanding complete abolition of NEET — Protests by students over paper leaks and in protest against Monday’s police action on protesters in New Delhi continued in different parts of the country on Thursday.
In Mumbai, police detained over 150 protesters and registered two FIRs for violating prohibitory orders, taking the total number of cases linked to the agitation to 17. While the large gatherings at Shivaji Park held earlier this week were absent on Thursday, demonstrations were organised at several locations including Mankhurd, Darukhana and Mumbai University’s Kalina campus. “Wherever demonstrations began, participants were detained by police,” said a member of Mumbai Against Suppression of Students (MASS), a collective coordinating a number of protests.
In Bihar, thousands of protesters in Katihar, Darbhanga and Begusarai marched against alleged irregularities in competitive exams. The protests escalated into stone pelting in Katihar, and police using “mild lathicharge” in Begusarai to push back protesters. Several policemen were wounded in Darbhanga clashes. “The situation has been brought under control. Four to five persons have been detained,” Darbhanga DM Kaushal Kumar told reporters.
Meanwhile, hundreds gathered in Guwahati in solidarity with the protests unfolding at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and demanded the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Among the protesters was 22-year-old Balo Yama from Arunachal Pradesh, who is studying in Guwahati. “Everyone wants justice. My cousin gave the NEET this year, and I saw how difficult it is for students to deal with something like a paper leak… This is not about CJP or BJP. It’s about students’ rights,” she said.
In Haryana, students of Kurukshetra University and Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University in Jind took out marches and raised slogans against the Central government. In Jind, lawyers observed a work suspension on the call of the Jind Bar Association while the Hisar Bar Association called upon advocates to abstain from court proceedings Friday. The lawyers alleged students were subjected to excessive force during the police action in Delhi Monday and claimed that female students were also manhandled.
In Tamil Nadu, agitations demanding the complete abolition of NEET intensified across the state with student outfits and political activists staging coordinated demonstrations in Chennai, Madurai and Erode. Members of the SFI and DYFI blocked a railway track in Madurai. Police sources said protesters blocked a train after it arrived at Thiruparankundram, leading to a tense scuffle and physical pushing and shoving between police and the student demonstrators on the tracks.
Leading Tamil filmmakers Pa Ranjith, Vetrimaaran and Ameer led a major anti-NEET demonstration in Egmore. In Kerala, SFI held protests in Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Kottayam, Kochi, Thrissur and Kasaragod, among others, and faced rounds of water cannons used by the police to disperse them, according to visuals on TV channels.
—WITH PTI Inputs, Chennai & Thiruvananthapuram
