New Delhi, (IANS): Hundreds of students on Thursday protested outside the Delhi Police headquarters on Thursday, a day after clashes between student groups left several injured at the Ramjas College.
The demonstration was organised by the All India Students Association (AISA) demanding action against Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members accused of beating up students on Wednesday at the college.
Some Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University teachers also joined the protest, condemning what they said was the police inaction when the ABVP activists went on the offensive on Wednesday.
The protesters shouted slogans against the ABVP and Delhi Police.
“We are an amorphous group of people from across universities and no one is leading the demonstration,” Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) President Nandita Narain told IANS.
“We are all equally pained. I condemn the violence on the students and teachers and the lawless behaviour of the ABVP,” she added.
She criticised Delhi Police for its alleged failure to stop ABVP activists from resorting to violence at the Ramjas College in the Delhi University campus.
She said at least 50 students from her college, St. Stephens, were injured and came back in a distressed state at midnight from Hauz Khas police station where they were taken on Wednesday.
“This is very sad since Stephens is a highly apolitical college. Police even beat up its students,” she said.
Thursday’s protest came as Delhi Police registered a case of rioting and assault against unknown persons following violence between Left-backed AISA and RSS-affiliated ABVP activists.
The clashes were triggered over an invitation to JNU student Umar Khalid, who was jailed last year over sedition charges, for a literary seminar titled “Cultures of Protest” at Ramjas.
The two-day event on Tuesday and Wednesday was cancelled after ABVP forced the organisers to withdraw the invite to Khalid, dubbing him “anti-national”.