Apathy and ignorance were on display outside the Mantralaya last afternoon, as the police manhandled students from the LS Raheja School of Art while they were protesting against their college, which has deprived them of the foundation course and is fleecing them with &lsquo;maintenance money.&rsquo;
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/aug/25-students.jpg" alt="" /> Smita Salunke (in blue) claims the protesters were dragged and later beaten by cops. PICS/SURESH KARKERA
Around 300 students had gathered under their &lsquo;Chillar Feko Andolan&rsquo;, to raise their voice against a number of issues in the college that include shutting down of the Foundation Course, which is necessary for first-year students to progress into the second year, and a demand for extra fees.
Manhandled by cops One of the protesters, Rahul Gharat got head injuries and was later admitted to the GT Hospital at CST. &ldquo;We tried to sit outside the Mantralaya gate when the police started manhandling us. The dragged us by our hands and legs, they took us to spaces where the media was not present and beat us up,&rdquo; said Smita Salunke, from the Vidyarthi Bharthi Sanghatan. &ldquo;The boy who was injured, maybe got hit on his head, and fainted in the police station,&rdquo; she added. The police were present outside Mantralaya as the students had informed them that they would be protesting there.
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<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2016/aug/25-beat-up.jpg" alt="" />
After the protest, the students were taken to the Marine Lines police station and kept in custody for a few hours. &ldquo;It is very sad how our authorities respond to innocent students demanding their rights,&rdquo; said Akshay Pose, a third-year student.
Reason behind protests The issue started when the art school, located in Bandra West, was moved to the LS Raheja School of Architecture campus in Bandra East in June, over a property dispute, and closed its one-year Foundation Course.
The agitation began in June, after the college declared that two of its courses would shut down. Students protested as Raheja is the only college in the city that offers the foundation course and a lot of students across the city apply for it. &ldquo;I was told that the course is shut, now I don&rsquo;t know where to apply,&rdquo; said Pankaj Puralkar, who just passed Std XII and came to the college for admissions.
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The other bone of contention are the exorbitant &lsquo;maintenance fees&rsquo; charged by the college. &ldquo;The first and second-year students pay Rs 10,000 as maintenance fees and third-year students pay Rs 7,500. I&rsquo;m a final year fine arts student and I paid Rs 7,500. Only 5 months are left and I haven&rsquo;t been given any kind of extra facility. So why exactly did I pay that amount?&rdquo; asked Pose.
Copspeak Senior police inspector, Popat Yadav of the Marine Drive police station said, &ldquo;The protestors were detained and later allowed to go. We have registered a case against 70-80 people who had assembled at the spot, the case is registered against them under sections of the Bombay Police Act.&rdquo; When mid-day asked him about the students being manhandled, he said, &ldquo;We had earlier asked them not to protest outside the Mantralaya. When they did not listen to us, we detained them. While we were detaining them, they tried to resist. We have not manhandled them. If they have photos of being manhandled, we have also video recorded the whole incident.&rdquo;
Management passes the buck Principal SR Badekar said, &ldquo;There is no option in front of us; if there is no space, where do we create it? The Foundation Course cannot start this year in any way. We are looking for places to accommodate the students next year. About the fees, I don&rsquo;t think the management is returning their money.&rdquo; Passing the buck on to the management, Badekar asked mid-day to speak to the managing committee, who further passed it on to the trustees.
&ldquo;The trustees take the decisions, I&rsquo;m sorry I can&rsquo;t help you with anything,&rdquo; said Missal Gaode, the joint secretary of the management.

Cops manhandle students from LS Raheja School of Art while they were protest against their college, which has deprived them of foundation course and is fleecing them with 'maintenance money'

'They took us to spaces where there was no media and beat us up'

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Home / Mumbai / Mumbai News / Article / 'They took us to spaces where there was no media and beat us up'

'They took us to spaces where there was no media and beat us up'

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