Dalit Voice editor manhandled by cops

HYDERABAD: Eighty-five-year-old V T Rajshekar, editor of the Bengaluru-based magazine Dalit Voice, was in for a rude shock on Monday when he reached the University of Hyderabad (UoH) to express solidarity with the striking students.
In their attempt to stop outsiders from entering the university to participate in the 'Chalo HCU' campaign, police personnel deployed at the entrance manhandled Rajsekhar and shoved him into the crowd.
The incident happened at around noon when over 500 students suddenly barged into the campus pulling down barricades put up by the police at the gate. There were close to 70-80 personnel posted stationed at the entry point.
"I was never treated so badly anywhere before. Even when I told them that I am the editor of a Dalit magazine, they refused to let me enter the campus and started pushing me around," said a visibly shaken Rajshekar. The police was later compelled to apologise to the senior citizen for the unruly behaviour.
In fact, scores of girl students and volunteers from the university waiting to receive Rajshekar too faced a similar fate. With not enough women cops posted there, male cops were seen physically blocking the girls when they tried to escort the senior journalist into the campus, resulting in many of them suffering minor bruises.
"The handful of woman constables deployed at the university was nowhere to be seen when the scuffle broke out. How can that be? This shows how insensitive the department is towards girls," complained Fatima Nayana, a MSc student, who was injured in the incident. She claimed male cops misbehaved with girls even on on the day Rohith's body was forcibly carried out of the university.