A total of 81 youngsters, of whom a majority were college students, were sent to judicial custody for taking part in protests against the National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET) near Tamukkam Grounds and Alagarkoil Road on Thursday.
The protesters, detained from the two places on Thursday morning, were produced in the early hours of Friday by Madurai City police before a magistrate, who remanded them in judicial custody. While five girls in the group were sent to Madurai Central Prison, the remaining were sent to a jail in Dindigul.
According to the police, tens of youngsters gathered near Tamilannai statue in front of Tamukkam Grounds on Thursday morning, heeding a call by a group called Students’ Federation Against NEET, which is a coalition of a number of activist groups.
More than 50 youth were forcefully evicted from the venue by the police subsequently. A similar group, including many school students, who gathered later in the day on Alagarkoil Road, were also detained.
The city police said that barring those under 18 years of age others from the two groups were remanded in judicial custody in separate cases booked in Tallakulam police station under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those dealing with unlawful assembly, rioting, criminal conspiracy and assaulting or using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his or her duty.
Condemning the arrest, R. Murali, State general secretary, Tamil Nadu-Puducherry, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, who visited the arrested youth on Friday, said, “It was a peaceful, non-violent gathering of students in support of social justice, which is denied through NEET. The arrest would only end up instigating the youngsters further,” he said.
Alleging that the arrest was irrational, he said that those who took part in similar protests in other places against NEET were detained and let off in the evening. He also blamed the police for keeping the youngsters under detention throughout the night and failing to inform their families.
However, a senior official from Madurai City police, blamed the arrested youth for non-cooperation in giving their addresses and contact numbers. “Moreover, all were subjected to thorough medical check up, which resulted in the delay,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a group of students from Madurai Kamaraj University College staged a sit-in protest on their campus against NEET and condemning the arrest of youngsters.