Twenty students have been detained by the Pune police following their protest against BJP member Gajendra Chauhan taking charge of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) on Thursday.
The actor’s appointment as the chairman to the film institute came on June 9, 2015, after which students and well-known alumni of the institute went on an indefinite strike as they questioned his "professional credibility" to lead the institute due to lack of "stature" and "vision". However, they withdrew the protest in October.
According to Shaz Mohammed, a student at FTII, the protest in the institute started at around 10AM when governing council members entered the campus. Students were lathi-charged and manhandled by the police, according to Shaz Mohammed.
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“The students held a peaceful protest. They were holding banners to voice out their concerns. There was no instigation from the part of the students. However, the a few students got into a verbal altercation with the police because of which they were detained and taken to Shivajinagar police station,” he said.
Over 200 police personnel have been deployed in the campus, which is more than the strength of the students in the campus, say students.
“The current situation seems volatile and having so many policemen here is quite intimidating,” Shaz added.