Students take it as harrassment, hold protest demonstration
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, November 17 2009:
A team of Manipur Police commandos allegedly intruded on the hostels located inside the DM College campus by breaking the main gate and threatened the students staying at the hostels pressing them to produce arms last night.
Enraged hostellers today threatened to leave the hostels if the authority fails to clarify on the matter by tomorrow and take up action against those police personnel for their "misbehaviour".
Strongly condemning the act of the police commandos, students of four colleges-DM College of Science, Arts and Commerce and GP Women's College, whose hostels are located together on the same campus, held a protest demonstration on the DM College campus this morning braving the intermittent drizzles.
A team of police commandos in full uniform forced open the doors of the hostel rooms of the students, who were sleeping or preparing to sleep around 9 pm yesterday.
Some students were studying at that time, said M Santosh, General Secretary of a DM College Students' Union.
The police commandos repeatedly asked the students to produce guns saying that they were hiding the guns.
The students were seriously oncerned with the act of the police creating panic among the students staying at the hostel, Santosh lamented drawing attention of the higher authority concerned and the Education Minister.
The students demanded the Education Minister, L Jayentakumar to look into the matter so as not to repeat such incident in future.
Unless the authority as well as the security forces give assurance that such intrusion into the hostels at odd hours will not be allowed to reccur in future by 12 noon tomorrow, the hostellers will leave their hostels, they warned.
Principal of DM College of Arts, Kh Ibohal, while speaking to reporters, observed that as the campus is vast, a number of instances of security forces beating people and other killings had taken place frequently in the past.
In this connection, the college authority urged the Education Minister to see that the security forces stop carrying out such activities inside the college campus.
Senior SP, Imphal West District had sent an ASI and assured him that such incident will not be repeated in future, the principal informed.
Students of GP Women's College, DM College of Science, Arts and Commerce took part in the protest demonstration.