Clash on campus: Police keep vigil in Calicut University in Keralam; classes suspended

The police are keeping a vigil on the main campus of the University of Calicut at Tenhipalam in Malappuram district as classes have been suspended following a clash between groups of students during the counting of votes for the campus students’ union polls held on Wednesday.

According to sources, around 30 students were injured after activists of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and the United Democratic Students’ Front (UDSF) – a coalition of the Kerala Students’ Union and the Muslim Students’ Federation – clashed and threw stones at each other. The SFI’s election committee office on the campus was damaged. The tension began after SFI activists reportedly objected to the presence of two MSF activists outside their election committee office around 6 p.m. Following this, both the SFI and UDSF activists came to blows. Motorcycles too were destroyed in the melee. Subsequently, the police came to the spot and brought the situation under control. Both the groups of students were shifted to separate places.

Meanwhile, the SFI retained its control over the campus students’ union by bagging all the nine general seats. This is the first election after the university recently revamped the rules for students union polls and a separate union was set up for research scholars on the main campus, affiliated colleges, and study centres.

The winners are T.S. Deepak (chairman), M.P. Silpa (vice-chairman), C. Ashish Krishna (secretary), C.H. Fathima Fahma (joint secretary), Karthik and P.K. Navya (university union councillors), P. Niranjan (fine arts secretary), M. Aneesha (student editor) and Rishi Rojan (general captain).

The authorities on Wednesday night asked students pursuing undergraduate, postgraduate (PG) and integrated PG courses in its teaching departments and study centres to vacate the campus and their hostels. There would be no classes till November 2. However, offices will function as usual.