The Pondicherry University has officially requested police security at the gates to prevent the entry of anti-social elements into the University campus. A total of five officers have been posted at the gates on Friday.
The protests by the Tamil Department students continued through the day. They are now demanding the dismissal of the Dean of College Development and Academic Staff College head S. Hariharan for allegedly torturing a student, Radhakrishnan, from their department.
On Friday, the group staged a sit-in protest in the Administrative Block and asked to meet the Registrar. After some wait, the assistant registrar met with the students and said that the charges levelled against Radhakrishnan, for which he was held, had been dropped.
Following this, a group of students attempted to enter the quarters of Professor Hariharan.
Speaking to The Hindu , Vice Chancellor Chandra Krishnamurthy said the student in question had been guilty of stealing clothes from others in the hostel and was kept with the security in order to protect him. The authorities had video evidence of the student being treated well, she said.
On the question of the security in the university, she said, the security had been strengthened and several measures were being taken. So far, the University had been lenient on the students, but this did not mean that they could take law into their own hands, she said.
On Sunday, the student Radhakrisnan was allegedly held and beaten by the security personnel under the instructions of Mr. Hariharan. He was held in custody for over 24-hours, and only released on Monday night. According to the student, he was beaten in order to get him to confess to having entered the girls’ hostel and thrown chilli powder on one of the students on March 3. Later, CCTV evidence had indicated that the student had been in the library at the time of the incident. So far Professor Hariharan has not met with the students.
