Students protest turns violent on BHU campus, several injured

At least six were injured as a protest by Banaras Hindu University students turned violent with the protesters setting two vehicles on fire and damaging properties on the campus, forcing police to resort to lathicharge.

Trouble began this afternoon during the first round of nomination process for election to the students council, when the students started picketing on the campus demanding that all rights and the earlier form of the students union be restored.

A bus and a pick-up van were set ablaze on the campus. Some enraged students entered the central office and indulged in scuffle with security personnel and faculty members, BHU chief proctor Arvind Joshi said.

The police said it resorted to lathicharge to disperse the protesters who turned violent. At least half a dozen students were injured during the violence and were undergoing treatment. Following the violence, the university authorities have decided to indefinitely postpone the students council elections, the BHU chief proctor said.

The BHU students union was dissolved in 1997 after a large-scale violence. Since then for nearly 10 years, the campus remained without students union. In 2007-08, a students council was formed in place of the students union. But the student groups have been raising the demand of restoration of the students union from a long time.