160 ABVP members protesting against JNU hostel fee hike detained, released later

One hundred and sixty members of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) were detained and taken to Parliament Street police station after they tried to march towards the Shastri Bhawan that houses the HRD Ministry protesting against hostel fee hike in JNU.

The students' organisation began their protest march from Mandi House demanding scrapping of the high-power committee set up by the HRD Ministry following the agitation by JNU students against the hostel fee hike.

The protestors were marching towards the Shastri Bhawan when they were detained in front of Parliament Street police station.

According to police, 160 protestors including twelve women were stopped midway and taken to the police station, after they jumped barricades.

All the detained protestors were later released.

"All we want is a complete rollback of fees hike. The temporary relief by administration is just a lollipop," said Rajiv Mittal, a protestor.

"Besides, the rollback of hostel fee hike, we also want that some of the other issues pertaining to dress code, time restrictions on library hours must also be looked into," said Krishna, another protestor.

The protesters chanted slogans against MHRD and JNU VC demanding a complete roll back of hiked hostel fees and carried posters that read "JNU slogans = autonomy should not be violated", "MHRD release funds" and "Those who say shutdown JNU educate yourself", among others.

Gajender, a PHD scholar, said, "We have raised objections to certain rules imposed by the administration in the hostel manual. Earlier we didn't have to pay for electricity, water and sanitation but with this new rule, we will have to end up spending more money."