Students held for staging dharna at EFLU

Protest against the rustication of three students from the university a few weeks ago. Students’ organisations have resolved to approach the office of Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan next week and seek his intervention in the matter.

Police took into custody around 64 students at the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) on Monday when they tried to stage a dharna to protest against the rustication of three students from the university a few weeks ago. The call for the protest, ‘ Maha Dharna’, was given by the Students’ Forum for Justice.

The EFLU authorities closed the gates of the campus to prevent outsiders from entering the premises. Later, a few students who tried to storm into the Vice-Chancellor’s chamber were taken into preventive custody by the police.

Another batch of students from Osmania University and Hyderabad Central University staged a protest outside the campus and were detained by the police who shifted them to different police stations. They were released later during the day.

Students’ organisations have resolved to approach the office of Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan next week and seek his intervention in the matter.

Meanwhile, a press release from the university stated that the administration had opened a dialogue with the students.

It asked them to make an appeal against the rustication of the three students on disciplinary grounds, which they said would be given a ‘fair and sympathetic hearing on an individual basis’.

The University holds the view that students cannot continue to violate law and order on the campus and must respect the rights and feelings of other students as well as faculty and employees on the campus.

The presence of the police is for preventive reasons, the release added.