At least four students, including a woman student leader, sustained injuries after violence broke out by Students’ Federation of India (SFI) members against Kerala Students Union (KSU) activists at the government law college in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday night.
KSU President Safna Yakub was thrashed by SFI male members, a viral video showed.
She was seen brutally beaten up and dragged on the road by the activists of the ruling CPI(M)’s Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the videos were aired by TV channels.
“We storgly condemn the attack on Trivandrum Law College KSU Unit President Safna and other KSU activists by SFI goons. SFI must erase the words “Independence, Democracy & Socialism” from their flag and replace it with “Goondaism, Terror & Fascism,” the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) in a tweet said.
Safna told reporters that this is not the first time that SFI activists have launched an attack on KSU. She said that she raised this issue before but no action was taken.
The violence broke out when the KSU members were celebrating their victory in the college election. Initially, KSU college unit leader Ashique was attacked and when Safna and other members rushed to stop them, they came under attack by left students too.
KSU unit president Safna Yakub, general secretary Ashik Ashraf, Nithin Thampi and SFI committee member Anandu were admitted to the medical college hospital in the state capital.
Meanwhile, the Kerala Assembly on Wednesday witnessed a heated war of words between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan over incident, following which the opposition Congress-led UDF staged a walkout, reported PTI.
