The march by the Students Federation of India (SFI) activists to the Revenue Divisional Office (RDO) in Kanhangad on Tuesday turned violent, forcing police to resort to lathi-charge the protesters.
The SFI members, led by its Kasaragod district Secretary Shalu Mathew, took out the march to the RDO office this afternoon accusing the government of scuttling the admission norms by empowering the self-financing engineering colleges in the State to enrol 65 per cent students under the management quota.
As the protestors tried to barge into the premises of the RDO defying the police warning, the students indulged in heated altercation with the police and in the melee two policemen sustained injuries due to stone pelting, police said.
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The police later resorted to lathi-charge to force the protestors to disperse from the spot, injuring several SFI workers including Mr. Shalu Mathew.
Three SFI activists — K. Vineesh (19), K.M. Gireesh Balan (19), and A.V. Shiva Prasad (23) — were arrested under provisions of the IPC section 332, police said.
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The SFI activists flayed the State government for issuing a circular last week allowing self financing engineering colleges to make 65 per cent admission under the management quota, thereby upsetting the 50 per cent admission for meritorious students.
Sector under threat
A Correspondent writes from Kannur:
The SFI took out a march to the Collectorate on Tuesday to protest against the ‘collusion’ between the government and managements in admissions to engineering courses in self-financing institutions.
Inaugurating the march, SFI central committee member M. Shajar said the move would deny seats to meritorious students while facilitating admission to those capable of paying huge sums. The government policy would destroy the public education sector, he said. SFI district president P. Prashob presided.