Crackdown on Students Protest in Patna University, India

UPDATE: On December 15, hundreds of students led by the ASA member, All-India Students Association (AISA) gheraoed a meeting of the Senate of Patna University demanding Central University Status for Patna University, Students Union Elections as well as an end to criminalisation of the campus.

According to the report from the AISA, the crackdown faced by these protesting students was remarkable because not only did the police indulge in indiscriminate arrests and lathi charge, they also actively encouraged notorious RJD-sponsored lumpens of the campus to attack the students. As a result, several students were severely injured and admitted to the Patna Medical College Hospital.

In protest against this assault, AISA organised a bandh of the Patna University the next day; in the course of this bandh, students responded enthusiastically but clashes between RJD-sponsored goons and AISA activists and common students continued. AISA is planning to involve other student groups in taking the struggle forward.

We, in the ASA very much concerns about the crackdown in on Indian students in Patna University. The Indian government have to respect the human rights and the democratic rights of the students. The perpetrators have to bring into justice.