In a move to stop the protests against Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the Cyberabad police had detained around 60 students from Hyderabad Central University (HCU), who were heading to join the protests at Exhibition Grounds in the city.
Speaking to TNM, HCU’s Students Union General Secretary, Gopi Swamy, said that around 60 to 80 students of the University gathered at the campus around 10 am on Thursday. “We hired an RTC bus and were on our way to join the protest at the Exhibition Grounds. Soon, the Gachibowli police boarded the bus and directed the bus driver to take the vehicle where they instructed to,” said Gopi Swamy.
However, in less than an hour, TNM learnt that the students were taken to Moinabad police station. The students then started protesting and raising slogans against CAA and NRC at the police station. Visuals from the Moinabad police station showed that students are continuing their protest demanding the withdrawal of the CAA and against the NRC.
When TNM contacted the Moinabad police, Inspector G Venkateshwarlu said that the Gachibowli police brought around 50 students from HCU as they were heading to the protest site without permission. Gachibowli Inspector R Srinivas told TNM, “We have taken them into preventive custody in view of the situation. They were heading to a protest that didn't have the required permission.”
Around 3 pm, the students were released from the Moindabad police station.
Over 80 students are being picked up/detained by police from HCU who started off to join protests against CAA in Hyd. #SU Prez told me "Approximately 80 students are being taken away,but we don't know where are they taking us"@thenewsminute @dhanyarajendran pic.twitter.com/QDFMNCyqrK
— CharanTeja (@CharanT16) December 19, 2019
According to Abhishek Nandan, Students’ Union President and one of the students detained by the police, the HCU students were extending support to the protests called by civil society and students groups. “The CAA is anti-poor, anti-Muslim and violates the basic principles of the Indian Constitution. There should not be any discrimination in granting citizenship to the people. We demand that CAA be revoked,” Abhishek said.
According to reports, several activists and students from and near the Exhibition Grounds in Nampally area, too, were detained and taken to different locations.
The Hyderabad City police have denied permission for protests in the city. P Viswaprasad, the Joint Commissioner of Police, Central Zone (Hyderabad), stated, “Today (Thursday), the Left parties have planned for a rally from Exhibition Ground to Public Garden in protest against the CAA. They gave a representation seeking permission for the said rally to the DCP, Central Zone. Their representation has been considered and rejected by the DCP, and the same has been served to the applicant.”
Protests started at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) in Hyderabad following the clash between the Delhi police and students of Jamia Millia Islamia University on the campus on Sunday night. Since then, there were several protests across the country against CAA and the police force on the students of JMI and Aligarh Muslim University in Uttar Pradesh.
The University of Hyderabad also demanded strict action against the Delhi and UP police.
Massive protests against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act have been planned across the country on Thursday, despite section 144 or prohibitory orders against large gatherings have been placed in Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Red Fort area in New Delhi. Permission to hold protests have been denied in cities like Chennai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.