Delhi University students protest against Metro fare hike

New Delhi: Scores of university students held a demonstration at Central Secretariat Metro station on Tuesday, demanding a rollback of the hike in Metro fares and concessional passes for them. A group of Delhi University students were detained when they were marching towards Rashtrapati Bhavan with their demand to rollback metro fare hike.

The protesting students, who were bundled up in a bus by police, snapped the wires of the vehicle's doors and forced it to stop and staged another demonstration on the road.

Delhi University's All India Students Association(AISA) had called for a protest march on Tuesday from Central Secretariat Metro Station to Rashtrapati Bhavan at 1.30 pm, demanding a rollback of metro fare hike along with a slew of other demands. Delhi Police, however, detained over 40 students and took them in a bus from Gate 3 of Central Secretariat Metro Station.

The students cut the wires of automatic doors and forcibly stopped the bus near Chelmsford Club. They got down from it and continued their protest demanding rollback of metro fare hike, a demand they have been raising for over two months now. AISA Delhi vice-president Madhurima Kundu alleged molestation by an official of Delhi Police, which has denied the charge. "When we were taken into the bus, women police carried me by legs," Kundu said, and alleged that a male cop touched her inappropriately. She said she can recognise the person and would lodge a complaint against him.

Kawalpreet Kaur, president of AISA Delhi University, said, "From meeting DMRC authorities to the PMO, we went everywhere with our demands but nobody listened. Today, we were taking our plea to the President of this county but we weren't allowed instead we are detained and taken to different Police Station. Such a situation forces us to ask whose country is this anyway?"

AISA had earlier laid seige to Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station, protested near MHRD and met various officials and leaders including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal raising their demand. AISA members said some of them were taken to Mandir Marg and others to Parliament Street police stations.