Twenty-one students of the autonomous Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam have been suspended as part of the disciplinary action taken following the clashes involving activists of various student organisations over the last two weeks.
The suspended students include 13 students belonging to the Kerala Students’ Union (KSU) and Fraternity Movement. Eight activists of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) have also been suspended on the basis of an internal probe carried out by the college authorities. They can enter the campus only for submitting their statements before the probe panel.
The simmering tension that had been prevailing at Maharaja’s College between student outfits over the past two weeks had reached a flashpoint after the SFI unit secretary Abdul Nasar P.A. was stabbed allegedly by members of the Fraternity Movement on the campus on January 18 midnight. Regular classes, which were suspended from January 19, had resumed on January 24.
A meeting of the representatives of various student organisations convened by college authorities had decided to step up measures required to ensure a peaceful atmosphere on the campus. The student representatives agreed to the decision taken by the governing body and the parent-teacher association (PTA) not to permit students and outsiders to stay on the campus after 6 p.m.
However, KSU has accused the college authorities of siding with the SFI by limiting the disciplinary action to only a few of its members involved in the clashes. They have threatened to launch an agitation demanding action against all the SFI members involved in the violence.
