A hunger strike that was organised by the students of The English And Foreign Language University (EFLU), Hyderabad on Monday, November 6, witnessed unrest due to the intervention of the police on the campus.
According to a report by The New Indian Express, the police had detained close to 30 students, while seven were from EFLU and the rest of the detainees were reportedly students, activists, alumni from other universities in Hyderabad such as the Osmania University and other central universities.
Why was the hunger strike intercepted?
As per the statement of a senior official, under the jurisprudence of the Election Code, uninformed protests cannot take place amidst the election code in practice, despite the presence of spaces for rallies on the campus. Hence, he said that teams were deployed to the campus and protestors were taken into custody.
The protestors were charged with IPC (Indian Penal Code) 151 which states that an assemblage of five or more persons, which is likely to cause a disturbance of the public peace and continues doing so even after being asked to lawfully disperse, disrupting the public peace will face punishment for a term which may extend for up to six months, or fine can be levied, or both.
As per The New Indian Express, the detainees were taken to Amberpet, Nallakunta and Osmania Police stations.
The Telangana Legislative Assembly Elections are scheduled to take place from November 30, ending on December 5, 2023.
Why were the students protesting?
The protestors had put forth demands which are –
1) Justice for the sexual assault survivor
2) Withdrawal of wrongful FIRs (First Information Report)
3) Reconstitution of ICC (Internal Complaints Committee) with elected students
4) Removal of Proctorial Board
5) Resignation of VC (Vice-Chancellor)
6) Immediate conduct of Student Union Elections
7) Cessation of surveillance and harassment of students and
8) Lifting of restrictions on students mobility in the campus
For now, there has been no conclusive result of the protest as the students’ demands remain unfulfilled.