The police resorted to a mild lathicharge against activists of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) and the Muslim Students Federation (MSF), who were staging a sit-in on the Calicut University campus at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district on Tuesday, in protest against the ongoing recruitment of faculty members for various departments.
The student activists claimed that the university authorities were sabotaging the reservation criteria in the interview. They also alleged that backlog posts were not filled too.
The interview process was to begin around 10 a.m. As the activists had locked the administrative block and sat in front of the building, the candidates could not get inside. With Vice-Chancellor M.K. Jayaraj not inviting them for talks, the activists decided to continue their protest. The police reached there and resorted to mild lathicharge. Following this, a few candidates could go inside with the help of the police. There were minor skirmishes between the activists and the police in between. The protesters alleged that some of their colleagues were dragged by the police to make way for the candidates. KSU State president K.M. Abhijith and MSF State president P.K. Navas were present. By around 3 p.m., all the activists were taken into custody.
Meanwhile, of the 20 persons who were supposed to attend the interview on Tuesday, five could not make it. Twenty-one people are expected to attend the process on Wednesday.