Aligarh (UP): Members of the AMU students' coordination committee has begun a three-day hunger strike, seeking action against police personnel for alleged brutality during an anti-CAA stir on the campus last December and withdrawal of cases against protesters.
Announcing that their 10-week-long peaceful agitation has entered a new phase, twelve students started the 72-hour hunger strike on Friday night.
The panel said if their demands were not met, a group of students would launch an indefinite hunger strike at the Bab-e-Syed gate of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
They have sent a notice of their proposed strike to the authorities concerned at the university as well as the district authorities.
The panel also copies of their notice to the President, prime minister and the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The spokesman of the committee, Faizul Hasan, told mediapersons that their main demand was that an FIR be registered against the members of the police force who "indulged in violence and vandalism" at the university on December 15.
"We also want the withdrawal of all false cases against those students who were exercising their democratic right of peaceful protest and were being pressured by the authorities to end their agitation," he said.
Hasan said the Uttar Pradesh chief minister held a very important constitutional post and if he had any concrete evidence to support his charge of unprovoked violence against the AMU students, he should place that before the the court, instead of vilifying the institution.
"On our part, we are placing all the evidence before the court and will also do so if the government orders a judicial probe," he said.
The students' coordination panel is also demanding the resignation of top university officials, including the vice-chancellor and the registrar, on the grounds of moral responsibility with regard to the December 15 incident.
They demanded that the CCTV footage of all incidents pertaining to the "police brutalities" should be fully secured and protected.
Meanwhile, at the Eidgah grounds in the old city, the woman protesters, who have been on an indefinite dharna against the Citizenship Amendment Act since the past three weeks, staged a stir at the Kotwali police station.
They alleged that police prevented them from putting up a tent at the protest site on Thursday night during a hailstorm.
Senior district officials rushed to the spot and pacified protesters.
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Jaipur, Mar 28: Young Riyan Parag showed why he is considered a precocious talent as he struck a stunning 84 not out off 45 balls to set up a 12-run win for Rajasthan Royals against Delhi Capitals in their IPL match here on Thursday.
Sent in to bat, RR were reduced to 36 for 3 in the eighth over but the 22-year-old Parag single-handedly took the home side to 185 for 5 with a magnificent unbeaten knock studded with seven fours and six sixes.
Parag, who was promoted to number 4 by the team management this season and made 43 in the previous match, took 25 runs off veteran South African pacer Anrich Nortje with scores of 4, 4, 6, 4, 6, 1 in the final over to hit his highest T20 score.
Chasing 186 for a win, DC could only manage 173 for 5 in 20 overs though South African youngster Tristan Stubbs (44 not out off 23 balls) kept them in the hunt till the final over from which they needed 17 runs.
Avesh Khan conceded just four runs to help RR win their second consecutive match.
South African pacer Nandre Burger and Yuzvendra Chahal took two wickets apiece to also contribute in the RR win.
"Definitely disappointed. The best thing to do from here is to learn from it. The bowlers did well through the 15-16 overs. But the batters did well at the death, hopefully we do better in the next game," DC skipper Rishabh Pant said.
DC were reduced to 34 for 2 in the fourth over with Burger taking two wickets in three balls in a fine display of fast bowling.
Burger, who was brought in as Impact Sub for Shimron Hetmyer, dismissed opener Mitchell Marsh (23 off 12 balls) and Ricky Bhui (0) in the fourth over.
DC captain Rishabh Pant came out to bat at the fall of Bhui's wicket and along with senior batter David Warner built the innings without taking too much risk. Delhi were 89 for 2 at the halfway stage.
Warner was the more aggressive one as he got the boundaries to keep DC in the hunt. The senior Australian batter fell one run short of his fifty courtesy a brilliant diving catch by Sandeep Sharma off the bowling of Avesh in the 12th over.
Warner and Pant were involved in a crucial 67-run partnership for the third wicket.
Playing in his 100th IPL match and 14 months after a horrible car crash, Pant tried to build the innings with occasional boundaries. But he got out for a 26-ball 28 as Chahal induced a faint lower edge for Sanju Samson to do the rest behind the stumps in the 14th over.
The asking rate shot up to more than 13 runs an over and DC needed 66 from the last five overs.
Stubbs kept DC in the game with two consecutive sixes off Ravichandran Ashwin in the 17th over, but in the end the Delhi side were short by 12 runs.
They needed 34 runs from the final two overs which they could not get. It was DC's second consecutive loss.
Earlier, Parag shared 54 and 52 runs respectively with Ravichandran Ashwin (29) and Dhruv Jurel (20) after RR made a shaky start.
Royals captain Samson struck three consecutive boundaries in the fourth over bowled by pacer Mukesh Kumar before nicking a Khaleel Ahmed delivery two overs later to Pant to get out for 15.
RR were 30 for 2 by then as Mukesh had given DC their first breakthrough with the wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal (5).
The Royals were in more trouble after wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav literally forced his captain Pant to take a review, which later proved to be successful, to dismiss Englishman Jos Buttler for an LBW decision.
Ashwin came out to bat at number five and he lofted a Kuldeep delivery for a six to help RR reach 58 for 3 at halfway stage. He gave Nortje even a harsher treatment with two sixes in the next over that yielded 15 runs.
Ashwin, however, holed out to Tristan Stubbs near the boundary ropes for a 19-ball 29.
Parag then made his presence felt, striking two boundaries and a six off Ahmed to take RR past 100 in the 15th over.