Imphal, September 06: A number of gunmen who identified themselves as members of the proscribed RPF today barged into the room of the president of Manipur University Students' Union and beat up the president, Ashok Kumar and later took him away.

Some other student leaders who were present there were beaten up as well.

To protest the assault of the students, Manipur University Students' Union has clamped a 24 hour general strike from midnight of today till midnight of tomorrow.

AMSU and DESAM have declared that they would support the general strike.

As words of the assault spread students of the university gathered and a meeting was held.

Vice president of the student body, Shyam Singh informed the gathering that a youth clad in a half pant came to the office of the MUSU at about 2 pm and inquired whether a function will be held at MU on September 25 or not.

To this the MUSU president replied that it may not be possible to hold the function this year, said the vice president while recounting the incident.

On hearing the negative reply of the president the youth pulled out a gun and pointed it at the president, said the vice president.

Apart from himself (vice president) and the president, the other students present at the room at that time were DESAM president L Romesh, senior executive member N Kapur and some Councillors of MUSU.

The other students then over powered the youth and were in the process of talking things over with him.

At about 2.10 pm, four armed persons then barged into the room, recalled the student leader.

At gun point, the MUSU president and the other students were beaten up, he said adding that a stick was also used to cane the president of MUSU.

The other student leaders who were present at that time were also assaulted and after that the gunmen took away Ashok Kumar, said the vice president.

President of DESAM L Romesh who was present at the meeting strongly condemned the incident and added that gunmen assaulting student leaders is uncalled for.

If organising a function will guarantee that the goals and aspirations of an underground organisation can be realised, then the function may be observed for a whole year and not just for a day, said Romesh.

The time has come for all to stand against mindless action, he exhorted.

The DESAM president also demanded an unconditional open apology from the group responsible for the action as well as the release of the abducted student leader Ashok Kumar.

Senior executive member of DESAM N Kapur said that even the security personnel have never resorted to such actions.

AMSU also joined the protest with its president S Prakash unequivocally condemning the incident.

He said that AMSU will support all course of action taken up by MUSU.

After the meeting the students took out a procession upto the gate of MU and shouted slogans demanding the release of Ashok Kumar and condemning the incident.

The students then staged a dharna at the MU gate.

A team of police personnel also arrived at the scene to get a first hand account of the incident.

MUSU members informed that their president Ashok Kumar was taken away in a Maruti van.

There was also a two wheeler.

Comment