LATE at night on 1 December the Varanasi police forcibly arrested BHU students Vivek Kumar Singh and Priyank Mani, took them to the Police Chowki and beat them brutally. Both students are part of the BHU AISA leading team.
Both these students had gone to have tea near the Lanka gate, when the Lanka Thana police came there and started breaking down the stalls and tea shops on the road side. Vivek and Priyank tried to ask the police why they were doing all this without giving any reason. The police hurled dirty abuses at them and said, ‘Come to the Thana, we will answer you there’. Both the students were badly beaten up and also mentally tortured by the police.
The students of BHU held a protest and blocked the BHU gate demanding an FIR against the guilty police personnel and their arrest. The citizens of Varanasi also joined the students in this protest. The two students were released early the next morning and the Chowki in-charge was suspended. However, the issue of registering an FIR against the guilty police personnel is still to be addressed.
