Protesting against the cancellation of non-NET research scholarships for M.Phil and Ph.D. students, and the Government’s attempts to cut back education expenditure to make it compliant with the WTO proposal of opening up higher education to foreign and private players, the #OccupyUGC protesters faced a brutal crackdown on 27th October. Around 7 pm, scores of police officers lathicharged the students and activists when they tried breaking police barriers after not getting any assurances from MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) or UGC to reinstate the non-NET fellowships and index the scholarship amount to inflation.
The protesters were lathicharged, kicked and beaten up, before being thrown into the bus for detention at the Kamla Market police station. They were later released around 9 pm after more than 300 students swarmed the police station to demand the release of detained students.
Students walk back to ITO to #OccupyUGC as police releases everyone after 300 students swarmed the police station pic.twitter.com/WSlLmVD0Ur
— Chitranshu Tewari (@chitranshu09) October 27, 2015
However, responding to the ‘allegations’, DCP (Central), Paramaditya said, “Around 45-50 protesters were detained. No one was lathicharged. Policemen did not have lathis… the protesters attacked and injured policewomen.”
This video proves otherwise. As the #OccupyUGC movement gathers supports from students in India and abroad, is the state trying to intimidate students with brute force?
This is what happens when you assert your right to education. This is what the Modi govt. does to you if you dare oppose their move to privatize and destroy public education! Here’s the video from yesterday for which these goons in uniform targeted me and beat me up brutally. The footage has survived, even though they damaged my camera. Please share widely. And this is just a small part of what I was able to shoot, they ran after me and physically assaulted me, so couldn’t record most of what they did. DCP (Central), Paramaditya said, “No one was lathicharged. Policemen did not have lathis… the protesters attacked and injured policewomen.” Please watch, share widely, and expose these lies!#OccupyUGC #SaveNonNetFellowship Video footage no. 2: https://www.facebook.com/Akhil1490/videos/vb.100001548577629/963522930375984/”यूँ ही हमेशा उलझती रही है ज़ुल्म से ख़ल्क़न उनकी रस्म नई है, न अपनी रीत नईयूँ ही हमेशा खिलाये हैं हमने आग में फूलन उनकी हार नई है न अपनी जीत नई”
Posted by Akhil Kumar on Wednesday, 28 October 2015
Video courtesy: Akhil Kumar
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