EFLU students beaten up by police during protest, taken into custody

More than 14 students of the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, were detained and beaten up by the police after the students organized a hunger strike outside the university gates demanding reopening of hostels on Sunday.

“The EFLU Students’ Action Committee for hostel reopening had called for a 24-hour peaceful hunger strike outside gate number 2. During the protest, the police forcefully detained students and they were taken to Osmania University Police Station. Students were manhandled in and outside the police station as well,” one of the protesting students told Maktoob.

14 EFLU students have been detained for going on hunger strike demanding the re-opening of the hostel.
The police detained these students on the pretext of MLC elections in the state. pic.twitter.com/CPAHxyKP0i

— Sumit Jha (@sumitjha__) March 14, 2021

The EFLU Action Committee for hostel reopening had called for a 24-hour peaceful hunger strike outside gate number 2. The police forcefully detained them and manhandled them.We want Justice for students.@PMOIndia @aajtak @IndianExpress @ndtv #efluunderattack #reopenefluhostels pic.twitter.com/OVBRkEWNYo

— Neelesh Raj (@Neelesh88786698) March 14, 2021

“They tore our students’ clothes off, shoved people into police vans, tried to push and beat people up. They had snatched our phones away as well,” Nandana Saikia, one of the detainees tweeted.

They tore our students' clothes off, shoved people into police vans, tried to push and beat people up. They had snatched our phones away as well.

— Nandana Saikia (@nom_nom_for_us) March 14, 2021

The police officials claimed that they detained protesting students on the pretext of the MLC elections and said students were disturbing the situation.

The EFLU students have been demanding the reopening of the hostels for underprivileged students who are unable to study at home due to various reasons.

The students had submitted a detailed proposal regarding which students should be allowed to come back to the hostels considering that only 50 per cent of the total students can be called back as per the latest UGC guidelines.

The students had conducted a survey with a total of 845 respondents in which around 522 had said they are in urgent need of hostels.

“Among those who require hostels, 20.9 per cent are facing an abusive situation at home, including instances of physical violence. The physical and mental health of 13.6 per cent of students has deteriorated due to the discriminatory behaviour by people in the locality on the basis of class, caste, gender, religion, sexuality, and so on. Hence, the hostel environment makes a significant difference for them,” according to the EFLU Students’ Action Committee.

The students also said that as a tactic to break the hunger strike, the university administration has refused access to toilets for the striking students.