Hyderabad: EFLU invites protesting students for peacemaking

The students refused for a closed door meeting fearing being singled out and targeted.

Hyderabad: Seeking an end to deadlock, the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) here invited protesting students for talks and asked them to nominate three persons for the meeting.

However, protesting students refused for a closed door meeting fearing being singled out and targeted. They wanted talks to be held in an open or conference room.

---

“Controller of Examinations Vipin told us that the administration is ready to address our demands and asked us to nominate three persons for a meeting with the new Proctor. We refused a closed door meeting as we know that there is no provision of transparency as we are not allowed to record. Moreover, whosoever goes to the meeting are targeted with FIRs and show cause notices, which happened after the last one such meeting,” a protesting student said.

Following a recent alleged sexual assault on a woman student by two persons on the campus, the varsity students have been holding protests with six demands.

The administration on November 7 replaced Prof. T Samson as the Proctor with Prof. T Srivani, Head department of Hispanic and Italian Studies. This was one of the six demands of the protesting students, who sat on an indefinite hunger strike at University’s Main gate on November 6.

Immediate withdrawal of the FIRs and show cause notices against students, reconstitution of the ICC with elected student representatives in accordance with UGC regulations, resignation of the Vice Chancellor and conducting students union elections immediately were among the other demands of the protesting students.

“Due to weather issues, students moved to the New Administration Building (NAB). The new Proctor and Provost addressed students on Wednesday around 11.15 pm and discussed the health conditions of students who are on hunger strike,” a student said.

Meanwhile, two students on indefinite hunger strike were given IV fluids on Wednesday night in the university health centre. Owing to worsening health conditions, one student had to break the hunger strike after 67 hours. Currently, four students are on indefinite hunger strike, six other students are on relay hunger strike.