While HCU simmers, OU explodes

Hyderabad: While HCU has been simmering for the last two days with reports of the VC re-assuming charge there on Tuesday and Kanhaiya's visit on Wednesday, the Osmania University, that held the standard for student agitations, especially during the Telangana movement, on Wednesday turned into a battlefield with students rioting against the police.

Students there had been demonstrating earlier against the government's decision to increase the number of government posts and demanding that the Group II exams to be postponed. On Wednesday however, while students began Holi celebrations early in the morning, news about a student who allegedly committed suicide behind the university library, for the sake of their recent protests, began to be heard on the campus.

Within no time the student community was mobilised and began rallying towards the university library. The body of the alleged student was however found wrapped in tarpaulin, right in front of the Saraswati temple, that is situated between the Arts College and the university library. The students soon discovered that the police had no details about the person, except that the death might have occurred two days earlier as there was a foul stench emanating from the decomposing body.

Differences over the identity of the deceased
An argument over the identity of the dead person soon began to escalate with the students claiming the deceased to be a student while the police reiterating it to be that of a person named Baba, a daily wage earner and son of Prasad and resident of the neighbouring Manikeshwar Nagar. The students however were in no mood to relent and threatened that they would not give up the body unless they were given complete details about the person. They alleged that the police were trying to hide the truth about the dead body being that of a student who had died due to government's actions.

The students would not even make way for the supposed family members from Manikeshwar Nagar as they deemed it to be a ploy that the police has played out. This aggravated them further and they accused those who had come to claim the body had no sadness or remorse over it. Meanwhile the corporator from Manikeshwar Nagar, Hari arrived on the scene and began making arrangements for the body to be moved from there, even as a large police battalion descended on the scene.

This tipped over the already inflamed situation as the students turned violent and began hurling stones as them. While the multitude of students present there turned on the police and drove them towards the OU police station, the police too hurled back stones at them. The students also charged against a Tata Sumo that was coming towards them and rained stones against the vehicle. The lone driver at the wheel tried to move out of the way by quickly steering it aside but lost control of the vehicle that mowed over one fence and then jumped into another. The seriously injured driver had to be hospitalised and the vehicle towed out of there.

Questions about the identity of the deceased and the cause of death still remain unanswered even after the dust has settled. Was he a student or a resident of the neighbourhood? Was it a suicide or a murder? While Holi might have been a colourful affair on a hot day for most of us, the students in both the universities will remember it to so much more than this.

Disregarding this, the students sat down to protest in front of the dead body, claiming that the dead person was a university student, who identity details, the police had hidden away. The police denied this allegation and said that nothing was found except a mobile phone. The students did not buy their version and were determined to agitate there.