Police should change behaviour towards students: BJP

Terming as "unprovoked action" the baton-charge by police on students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar, the BJP on Thursday said police should change its behaviour towards young students.

"Police should change the way it deals with young students. You cannot use brutal force against students, especially when there is no provocation from the other side," party spokesman Shrikant Sharma told IANS.

Asked if he feels the same about Hyderabad University, Sharma said he felt the same for students of every university across the country, but that "the two cases are different".

"In Hyderabad University, there was some provocation by students, but in NIT, police resorted to lathi-charge without provocation. Action should be taken against officials responsible for police action at NIT," he said.

Responding to the opposition allegation that university students were being targeted ever since the BJP came to power, Sharma said "the frustrated opposition is doing politics in the name of students".

Tension gripped the NIT Srinagar after some students clashed with police on Tuesday.

According to police, a group of non-local students marched to the gates of the institute shouting slogans. A senior police officer advised them not to go out of the campus as that could result in a law and order problem, but the students did not listen.

Police resorted to a baton-charge to disperse the students, in which seven of them sustained minor injuries.