24 Arrested Students Of Hyderabad University, 3 Others, Granted Bail

A students' group has called for the boycott of classes at all campuses in the country today in protest against the arrests and alleged police action.

Twenty seven students and two professors were arrested last Tuesday for allegedly vandalising the office of Vice Chancellor Appa Rao and holding him hostage in his office for six hours.

The Vice Chancellor had returned to work after a long leave amid angry protests over the death of Rohith Vemula, who hung himself days after being suspended and banished from the hostel and other areas on campus.

The students say the Vice Chancellor must be held accountable for Mr Vemula's death and sacked. A month before allegedly committing suicide, Rohith had written to the Vice Chancellor and expressed anguish over allegedly being discriminated against because he was a Dalit.

Protests have intensified after the arrest of the students. Activists allege that the arrested students were not produced before the magistrate within 24 hours of detention as the law requires.

Among the two faculty members arrested on Tuesday is Professor Konda Yesu Ratnam, 53, a widely respected political science teacher whose arrest has outraged academics across the country.

A day after the arrests, Kanhaiya Kumar, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student arrested last month on sedition charges for his alleged role in a controversial event on campus, was not allowed to enter the Hyderabad university.

Mr Kumar delivered a short speech at the university's main gates. "How many Rohiths will you kill?" he shouted.

Supporters of Kanhaiya Kumar and Rohith Vemula want legislation dubbed "The Rohith Act" to check and punish caste discrimination at colleges.

Union Minister Arun Jaitley was on Sunday quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying that both the Hyderabad and JNU events were "ultra-Left movements" also involving a small section of "jihadis".