Students hold dharna at varsity, farmer bodies extend support

Amritsar, September 18

Several student organisations today staged a dharna outside the main gate of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) to raise their voice on several issues. In the recent past, the university had banned the entry of a PhD scholar Vijay Kumar, a research scholar of Political Science, on grounds of indiscipline. Kumar, who is also a member of Students for Society, a student organisation, alleged that he is being targeted for leading several protests against the university administration in recent months.

Meanwhile, farmer organisations too lent their support to the protest as students continued to sit on dharna till late in the evening. The morning also saw a minor scuffle break out between students and security staff of the university which was later resolved through a meeting. Issues raised during the protest included rollback of fine imposed on a woman law student that the student fraternity described as ‘unjustified’, rollback of university’s decision to turn Vijay Kumar’s full-time PhD into part-time, provision of power generator at the Bhai Gurdas Library and access to library for students during holidays.