The protest in progress outside the Madras IIT.
After five days of protests and violence, talks are in progress between the authorities of IIT-Madras and the representatives of the temporarily derecognised students' group Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle.
The invitation from the authorities came hours after yet another demonstration outside the campus, during which protesters clashed with the police. Around 100 protesters were detained and some members of a local students' group, the RYSF, were injured in the melee. Another protest was on inside the campus by the APSC.
Protests have been on since last week, when the institute temporarily derecognised the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle - a group of around 20 students - for allegedly violating its guidelines.
As the matter became politicised -- with DMK and VCK stepping in and the Congress blaming Union minister for human resources Smriti Irani for the ban -- the protest spilled over to Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata.
The IIT-Bombay formed its own study circle to show solidarity with the Ambedkar Periyar Group and students' groups from other university held protests in Mumbai.
The IIT Delhi, too, formed its own Ambedkar Periyar group, and IIT Kanpur created a Facebook page to register its protest. In Kolkata, Jadavpur University created a Facebook page in support of the student body.
The institute claims the group had been using the IIT name without permission. But students claim they've been targeted for criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre's policies.
Denying they had used the name of IIT or had links to banned organisations, the members of APSC demanded that the ban on them be revoked.