JNU students protest over fee hike, dress code

Hundreds of students protested near the Jawaharlal Nehru University here on Monday against the administration's "anti-student" policy.

Students wanted to march towards the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), where Vice President Venkaiah Naidu was addressing the university's convocation at an auditorium.

The gates of the AICTE, around 3 km from the JNU, were locked and the security personnel were stationed in and outside the premises in wake of the protests that started in the morning.

Barricades were placed outside the north and west gates of the JNU campus, as well as on the route between the AICTE auditorium and the JNU at Baba Balaknath Marg, near the traffic signal, underneath the flyover and near the venue, an officer said.

But students broke these blockades and marched towards the venue around 11.30 am. Some of the protesters have been detained, police said.

With placards in their hands, the students were beating tambourine and raising slogans like "Delhi Police Go Back" and calling Vice Chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar a "thief".

Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal was not being able to come out of the venue.

"JNUSU president Aishe Ghosh and vice president Saket Moon were asked to talk to the students to make way for the HRD minister. Police requested the protesters to move from the gate, but they refused," an officer said.

The JNUSU office-bearers met Pokhriyal who assured them that their demands would be looked into.

They, however, were not able to meet the V-C. The protesters were also raising slogans "we want V-C".

"Historic day for us that we broke barricades, reached the convocation venue and met the minister," Ghosh said. "This could happen because we were united."
"This is not the end of our movement. We urged the HRD minister to ask the V-C to have a dialogue with the students," the JNUSU president said. "It is due to the V-C that things have come to be like this."