Chennai:
It's an annual tradition in Chennai - Bus Day -when students force their way into public buses and then ride on top of them. In recent years, buses have been hijacked and damaged during the demonstration.
But on Wednesday, 25 policemen were injured after they tried to stop students at Chennai's Pachiappa's college from hijacking buses, damaging them, and disrupting them. The police was stoned by students on the college campus.
The ritual is meant to be a students' celebration of the buses that ferry them to and from universities, but invariably, students damage public property and force drivers to move at snail's pace, causing massive traffic jams in the city.
"Perhaps they wanted us to allow them to go on top of the buses, walk on the road... disturb the public...for which we said no," said MC Sarangan, Joint Commissioner, Chennai's Central Zone.
The police was reprimanded by the Madras High Court on Monday for not being able to protect the public from the inconvenience caused by students every year. A local lawyer yesterday sent legal notices to the police,
The Vice-Chancellor of University of Madras and other city authorities over their role in allowing the bus day celebrations.