Security beefed up in AMU after altercation between students and a TV channel crew

Security was beefed up in the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Tuesday after some students and a TV channel crew got into an altercation over reports of a planned visit by AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, police said.

The Rapid Action Force was deployed around the campus as a precautionary measure amid other protests, including one in which a motorcycle belonging to a ABVP member was set on fire, a senior police officer said.

It was not immediately clear if this incident was also related to Owaisi's visit.

ABVP activists staged a protest near Faiz gate of the university after some media reports claimed the AIMIM leader was invited to address a function organised by the AMU Students' Union Tuesday.

They demanded that he be banned from entering the campus. Owaisi, however, did not turn up.

An AMU spokesman said a TV channel team, which had come to cover the anticipated event, had an altercation with some students while they were filming inside the campus.

The spokesman said the channel had not sought permission from authorities for live coverage and when university staff members pointed this out, there was a heated exchange in which some students were also involved.

The mediapersons claimed they were roughed up by some students while they were filming on the campus and their camera was smashed.

Complaints were lodged at the Civil Lines Police Station, by both by the AMU authorities and the TV channel crew.

A complaint was also filed by some Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members who alleged that they were beaten up near the Faiz Gate and a motorcycle, belonging to one of them, was set on fire.

Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhari told PTI that a number of complaints were given by different groups at the Civil Lines police station and the police were still in the process of filing these reports.

Meanwhile, a large group of students from the university collected at Bab-e-Syed gate, demanding the suspension of Ajay Singh, a prominent ABVP leader who is a postgraduate student in the Faculty of Law.

He is the grandson of BJP MLA Dalvir Singh.

The AMU had scheduled a meeting of its Executive Council to take stock of the situation Tuesday night.