Over 200 Arunachal students on token hunger strike

ITANAGAR, MARCH 29: At least 250 students in Arunachal Pradesh are on a 10-hour token hunger strike in protest against police action in a ...

ITANAGAR, MARCH 29: At least 250 students in Arunachal Pradesh are on a 10-hour token hunger strike in protest against police action in a government college hostel recently.

The students belonging to All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union, All Nyishi Students Union and Arunachal University Students Union have launched the agitation in front of the state secretariat from 9 am Wednesday.

The student leaders told newspersons they would intensify their agitation in the form of a 36-hour capital bandh from Thursday and might boycott the university examinations if their demands were not met.

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Their demands included immediate suspension of the deputy commissioner, additional deputy commissioner, assistant superintendent of police of Papum Pare district and the police party responsible for firing, lathicharging and ransacking the hostel "without any provocation".

They, however, quoted State Education Minister Dera Natung as having told the students during a discussion with them Wednesday morning that "something positive" was likely to emerge before the end of their hunger strike at 5 pm Wednesday.

The principal of a government college here had alleged that police intruded into the college campus on March 24 without the permission of the college authorities and brutally asaulted the lecturer-cum-hostel superintendent of the college.