Occupy UGC protesters in Delhi have alleged that the police manhandled them and molested some of the students who had organised a peaceful march to Parliament.
Hundreds of students from Delhi University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia and many other varsities had participated in the march. They were protesting against the centre’s decision to scrap non-NET fellowships when they were lathicharged, causing injuries to several students. Police even lobbed tear gas shells and used water cannons on the students.
Watch the video here:
This is the 49th day since they began protesting the University Grants Commission’s decision to discontinue all fellowships for researchers in central universities from October 7, except for the ones related to the National Eligibility Test.
On Thursday, police detained 150 students despite one of the protestors telling NDTV, “Many of us were beaten by police and injured despite our attempts to peacefully conduct a march". All the detained were later released.
One of the female protestors told Indian Express, “They hit us with lathis on our head… we were handled by male constables, who misbehaved with us.”
The protesters later attempted to file a complaint at the Parliament Street police station, but alleged that the police initially refused to register it.
However, police said defended their actions and accused the protesters of being violent.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Jatin Narwal told the newspaper, “The force was used to stop them from marching towards Parliament. The scheduled path was ITO via Barakhamba Road to Jantar Mantar. But as the protesters reached Mandi House, they started running towards Firoze Shah Road. We tried to stop them at the Le-Maridien roundabout, where they turned violent and attacked police officials.”