The buzz is missing, and the number of people sitting under the shamiana Shopcom area in University of Hyderabad (UoH) dwindled on Friday. An eerie silence pervaded the area. Perhaps one of the reasons was that many students who were camping there since Tuesday realised that they too have been named as accused in the case for which 25 students and two faculty members have been sent to Cherlapally jail.
Though police presence was conspicuously absent across the university, many students were left wondering when they would be picked up. While some of them whose names have been mentioned in the case diary are not scared, others went into hiding fearing arrests. More than 20 people, who have not yet been arrested, have been named in the case registered by the Gachibowli police following a complaint by the Registrar of UoH on March 23.
‘Yet to be arrested’ are the words in brackets beside the names of the students who now wonder when they’ll be picked up by the cops. “This is harassment by the police and the administration. Some students have left for their homes because they fear that they will be arrested,” said one student, unwilling to be identified.
A total of 47 people and ‘others’ have been named in the case registered by the Gachibowli police.
In their report to the XXV Metropolitan Magistrate, Kukatpally, the Gachbowli police wrote that on March 22 all the “47 accused persons and others numbering 200 had formed into an unlawful assembly with a common object to attack the V-C, to prevent him from assuming charge”. The report also stated that slogans of ‘we don’t want to be silent, we should be violent’, ‘V-C bachke kahan jayenga aaj nahi toh kal milega, zinda dafanayange tujhko’ were raised.
The police report said that students were forcibly removed from the V-C’s lodge in the campus, as they did not leave in spite of efforts to convince them to do so. In the melee that ensued, a few policemen were injured when students threw stones at them, and in return the cops lathi-charged them, resulting in 44 of them sustaining injuries.
“But what about the ABVP members who were present in the morning at the V-C’s lodge? Why were they not been booked as well?” questioned Rajeev (name changed), one of the students who has been named as an accused in the case. While the situation was calm on Friday – as water, electricity and the internet were restored – many students are worried about the fate of the 27 people who have been arrested by the police.
The bail hearing of the 25 students and two faculty members will be heard on Monday.
