A protest by students against Delhi University's four-year undergraduate programme (FYUP) turned ugly Saturday with many students getting injured when police used water cannons against them.
Police took the action when the students tried to cross a barricade and move towards the vice chancellor's residence.
More than 300 students - mainly from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) - had to face the water cannons. Some were injured while some were detained.
"The administration asked police to do this. It is not right. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has said in a letter that the FYUP has to be scrapped... So why is the vice chancellor not listening?" said ABVP Delhi state secretary Saket Bahugana.
The Delhi University Teachers Association (DUTA) condemned the attack on the students.
Members of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) who were protesting and demanding the FYUP rollback were also beaten up by police.
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"This is such a fascist behaviour of the administration. Four of our student members have been admitted to hospital. We just wanted to submit a memorandum to the vice chancellor but we were treated in this manner," NSUI spokesperson Amrish Ranjan Pandey told IANS.
University officials refused to comment on the issue.
Various student groups have been protesting against the FYUP, demanding that the administration roll it back. The protests have intensified since the BJP government came to power at the centre.
On Friday, the UGC wrote a letter in this regard and asked the university administration to scrap the programme.