HYDERABAD: Osmania University issued a circular on Tuesday making it mandatory for police to seek permission from university authorities like Principal or Director, before they enter into any building on campus.
The circular comes after a stand-off between varsity students and police that occurred on campus on Sunday. A seminar was held in OU’s commerce college on Sunday by 21 student organisations on - ‘People’s movements - Government Policies Prison memories of TDF Fact Finding Team’.
Chikkudu Prabhakar of TDF was about to deliver a talk at the seminar, when police entered the college and did not allow him to speak and were present till seminar came to an end, which irked students.
Prabhakar along with six members of a fact finding team was arrested last year by Chattisgarh police on allegations of carrying Maoist literature and banned currency notes.
The circular said research scholars and students be permitted to conduct events of academic nature indoors regarding which HoDs should first inform the Principals of respective colleges. It also said, “Further, the police need to be involved with proper request from Principals/Directors/University officials”.
When contacted, a senior police official said, “On Sunday police had to interfere because a person with alleged Maoist links was going to deliver a talk. If there is an incident in any of the buildings in the university campus, should police wait for permission rather than responding immediately?”
When contacted, OU Registrar, Prof Ch Gopal Reddy said, “The university’s higher authorities did not have information regarding the seminar by students on Sunday as well as the police interference.”
Following this incident, many students conducted a protest lasting close to 12 hours in the university on Monday and demanded university send show cause notices to police, cancel lease of OU Police Station and not allow police inside campus.