The expulsion of 22 students of Makhankal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism on Wednesday rocked the State Assembly with the opposition alleging that the action was initiated to suppress voice of dissent from the students.
Raising the matter in the Assembly during zero hour, former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan claimed that responding to the peaceful protest of the journalism students, the police threw them off stairs like non-living things and beat them up mercilessly leaving several students injured on Dec 12.
The students were taken to a far off police station Bilkhiria, around 20 km away from the university and the students were only released late night, added Chouhan.
Saying that the budding journalists were treated at par with the terrorists, Chouhan questioned whether students’ voice would be crushed like this if they raise rebellion over justified demands.
It started at the journalism university around a week ago when the students started protests against casteist remarks of two adjunct professors.
They staged sit in outside VC Deepak Tiwari’s chamber (he was out of Bhopal) on December 12 when no action was taken against the said professors.
When the discussion failed between the university officials and the students, the police swung into action dragging down students from the upper floors and took them into custody.
An FIR was lodged against 25 students under various charges and on Tuesday late evening, on the recommendation of the disciplinary committee, the university expelled 23 students till further orders.
Meanwhile, Chouhan during the debate on the matter in Assembly on Wednesday, demanded expulsion order of the students be revoked and cases slapped against them be withdrawn.
Leader of Opposition Gopal Bhargav terming the action against studentsexcessive and harsh, said that he has learnt that one or two persons in the university are engaged in anti-national activities but the enquiry has been initiated against students instead.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Govind Singh replying to the debate said that State government’s sympathies are with the students. “We are summoning the details of what transpired at the university,” Singh assured the House.
Early in the day, a group of former students of the university protested outside the university and had a chat with university administration urging them to revoke expulsion of the students and requested police to withdraw cases slapped on the students.