JNU students protesting over steep fee hike clash with police; Minister stuck for over 6 hrs

Shouting slogans and raising banners, thousands of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students clashed with police on Monday as their protest over steep fee hike escalated, leaving HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ stranded for over six hours at the venue of the varsity’s convocation.The students of the varsity, which has seen several such agitations in the recent years, were protesting outside the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) premises, the venue for the varsity’s third convocation, which was addressed by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.The protests started in the morning and escalated as the day progressed with crowds of angry students, with banners saying ‘Roll back fee hike’, trying to push through a wall of anti-riot police personnel to reach the venue.Several barricades put up by the police were broken by the students, who started their march towards the AICTE premises, about 3 km away from the university’s campus in south Delhi, around 10.30 am.Water cannons were used to disperse the protestors and police said some of the students were detained. Top brass of the Delhi Police were at the site to handle the situation.The students shouted slogans like “Police ko aage karta hai, JNU VC darta hai” (JNU VC keeps police in front as he is afraid) as they demanded that vice chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar meet them and listen to their demands.During the scuffle with police personnel, the students raised slogans like “Police-walo ki ek bimari, Tis Hazari, Tis Hazari”, referring to their clash with lawyers at the city’s Tis Hazari court a few days back. Slogans supporting lawyers, who are on a strike following the clash, were also heard.Barricades were placed outside the north and west gates of the JNU campus, as well as on the route between the AICTE auditorium and the university at Baba Balaknath Marg and nearby areas but the marching students broke one after the other.The students are demanding withdrawal of the draft hostel manual, in which service charges of Rs 1,700 were introduced and the one-time mess security fee, which is refundable, has been hiked from Rs 5,500 to Rs 12,000.The rent for a single-seater room has been increased from Rs 20 per month to Rs 600 per month, while rent for a double-seater room has been increased to Rs 300 per month from Rs 10 per month.The draft hostel manual also has provisions for dress code and curfew timings, the students’ union alleged, even as the administration denied these two claims.