The police opened fire on a crowd of Students Federation of India (SFI) activists to quell a protest staged by them in front of Government Engineering College at West Hill here on Monday against admitting a student, breaching university rules.
At least 75 people, including 40 police personnel and 30 students, were injured in clashes. SFI State secretary P. Biju suffered head injuries. A Sub Inspector and three Assistant Sub Inspectors, Mathrubhumi photographer K.K. Praveen, and two parents of engineering students suffered injuries in stone-pelting.
Most of the agitators were injured in the lathi charge, while the police personnel suffered injuries from stone-pelting. The injured have been admitted to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, Government Beach Hospital and various private hospitals.
The police, at the outset, had to fire teargas shells from riot-guns as well grenades and later resort to a lathi charge to disperse the agitated protesters when they turned violent.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (North) K. Radhakrishna Pillai fired four rounds from his service revolver when the young slogan- shouting demonstrators refused to budge even after police used batons.
The volatile situation was brought under control after additional police personnel led by Deputy Commissioner of Police D. Sali reached the scene.
However, the police action had its resonance in different parts of the city and the district as well. Activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India took a protest march to the Commissioner of Police. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was burnt in effigy at Vadakara.
The windscreens of the two police vehicles were smashed by protesters in separate incidents. A private bus also came under attack at Mananchira in the afternoon, said G. Sparjankumar, Commissioner of Police.
The agitation was to protest against the college authorities admitting a student, Nirmal Madhav, who had secured admission allegedly through fraudulent means. The protesters said that Nirmal Madhav, who had obtained 22,787 rank in entrance examination, got admission to the mechanical engineering branch in the management quota at the Calicut University Institute of Engineering and Technology in 2009. He discarded studies in the third semester. He then got admission in the civil engineering branch at the Punnapara College of Engineering and Management in the Non-Resident Indian quota. After two semesters, he left the college and was given admission in the fifth semester in the mechanical branch at the Government Engineering College.
The protest initially started off peacefully with demonstrators, mostly from Malabar Christian College, Government Polytechnic College and Zamorins Guruvayurappan College, in front of the engineering college at around 9 a.m. But trouble gathered momentum when they learned that Nirmal Madhav had entered the campus with police protection as early as 7.30 a.m. They then tried to barge into the campus leading to clashes with the police.
Incidentally, the police personnel also engaged in stone-throwing to dispirit the students.
West Hill engineering college Principal Z.A. Zoya had earlier informed the Nadakkavu police station to take necessary steps as the college opened after a two-month gap, Mr. Sparjankumar said.
