Date:10/05/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/05/10/stories/2004051001160500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Dismissed AU professor, 24 others arrested

By Our Staff Reporter

VISAKHAPATNAM, MAY 9. The police arrested the dismissed Andhra University professor, S. Surappudu, and 24 others on Sunday after a mild lathicharge when they tried to submit memoranda to Executive Council members.

Trouble broke out when a team led by Prof. Surappudu under the aegis of the AU Employees' Rights Protection Committee allegedly tried to barge into the Central Administrative Building to present memoranda to the council members, demanding a bold initiative to end the "undemocratic rule'' of the Vice-Chancellor, Y.C. Simhadri, when a meeting was in progress.

A large posse of police force, which was present on the campus in advance anticipating trouble, immediately picked up the agitators and bundled them into waiting police vans. In the melee that followed, some of the protesters received lathi blows.

"The police brutally brandished lathis and even did not spare women protesters. Though we were trying to submit the memoranda peacefully, the police forcibly stopped us after closing the main gate of the Central Administrative Building and later beat us mercilessly,'' John, one of the suspended lecturers of the university, told The Hindu .

When contacted, the One Town Circle Inspector of Police, P. Srinivasa Rao, denied that they resorted to lathicharge.