New Delhi: If one ever imagined whether the issue of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) fee hike issue escalate to such levels, many would have laughed it off. However, the students agitation over the new hostel manual, under which hostel charges have increased three-fold, has created a nation-wide uproar and solidarity. Hence, it still surprised many, when the students who were peacefully marching towards Rashtrapati Bhawan on Monday, faced lathi-charge by Delhi Police. The police, who was itself escorting scores of students, started using violence to disperse the crowd. As soon as they reached Bhikaji Cama Place intersection, students tried to divert and change the planned path. It is to be noted that both sides of the roads had been blocked by then. As soon as this happened, students were beaten up, and many have received serious injuries. "Many students are still in the hospital," said Arham, a JNU student, who was part of the protest. JNU Students Union General Secretary Satish Chandra was dragged by the police, while one officer was seen kicking him. The video that had gone viral saw many students intervening as Chandra was being dragged. "It was sudden and there was so much chaos. We were beaten up and divided. One group, to save themselves, ran in another direction," said a student. In desperation, the students sat on the road and started protesting. In a statement on Tuesday, JNUSU while criticising the police said, "The Delhi Police, true to form and its vicious character unleashed an unprecedented magnitude of physical assault and violence on students midway. The lathi charge was accompanied by abuse, male police manhandling women, kicks, punches, slaps and cowardly acts of phone snatching near Bhikaji Cama Place and Hayat Residency." JNUTA too condemned the police brutality and said, "The JNUTA condemns both the repeated acts of Police brutality against peacefully protesting students at the behest of the JNU VC as well as the shameful act of the Administration,threatening to bring Police into the campus." As the situation doesnt seem to end, JNU International Students Association on Tuesday wrote to course professors at the university, requesting them to "find alternative measures of academic evaluation at earliest for international scholars." "Situation of deadlock exists across campus, it has led to the cessation of academic evaluations and assessments," stated the letter.

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