JNU students' march to education ministry stopped by police outside campus; 43 detained

New Delhi: Members of the JNU students' union on Friday took out a march to the Ministry of Education to press for their demands, including an increase in scholarship amounts, but were stopped by police just outside their campus.

The police have detained 43 students from the protest site and they were taken to the police station and were allowed to leave later, an official said.

A heavy deployment of police personnel with multiple layers of barricading was made outside the university to stop the students from stepping out of the campus. However, the students managed to march for half a kilometre outside the campus and were stopped by the police. A clash broke out as students tried to break the barricades.

Later in the day, a delegation of JNUSU, including its president, vice president, and joint secretary, were escorted by the police to meet with officials at the Ministry of Education, the student body said.

A police official earlier said that no permission was given to the students to march outside the campus.

"They will be stopped if they come out of the university," the official had said.

The call for the march was part of an ongoing hunger strike on campus that entered the 13th day. It started on August 11. A section of students also participated in a call for a complete university strike by boycotting the classes.

They demand an increase in scholarship amounts, a caste census on campus, the lifting of the ban on campus protests, and the withdrawal of proctorial inquiries initiated against students for participating in the protests.

JNUSU's BAPSA-affiliated General Secretary Priyanshi Arya disassociated herself from the protest stating that the Union should first hold a protest in the prohibited area of 100 meter radius of the Vice-Chancellor's office.

RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) said it will not be a part of the march or the complete university strike called by the Union.