02, Feb 2016

Woman pulled by her hair, agitating students beaten up
Aradhna Wal @aradhnaw
New Delhi: A video of extreme police brutality did the rounds on Monday, forcing people to take note of the lathicharge on university students carrying out a protest for justice of Rohith Vemula, the Dalit student from Hyderabad who had committed suicide earlier this month. The protest march, carried out in front of the Delhi office of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on January 30 by the Delhi chapter of the National Joint Action Committee of students, was attacked by the police and by some men in plainclothes, as is seen in the video. These men, students from the JAC, allege were members of the RSS, whom the police apparently gave a free hand, as not just male students but female students got beaten by men.
The protest march was carried out from the Ambedkar Bhawan to the RSS office on Vemula’s 27th birth anniversary and the day of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, said secretary of the Jawaharlal University Students Union (JNUSU), which is part of the JAC, as they hold the RSS responsible for both. Hence the date was significant. “However, there is now a trend of crackdowns on student protests,” said Rashid, giving Saturday and the lathicharge on students protesting as part of the Occupy UGC movement late last year, as examples. The RSS, she said, were given a free hand and they abused the police machinery to attack the students, who hadn’t attacked anyone.