SFI for judicial probe into Dharmapuri incident

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, FEB. 5. The Students Federation of India (SFI), the CPI(M)'s student wing, today backed the demand of the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University (TNAU) for a judicial enquiry into the bus arson near Dharmapuri which claimed the lives of three women undergraduates of the TNAU and condemned the district administration for escalating the tension in the TNAU campus at Coimbatore in the wake of students' protests.

The TNAU students' demands including enhancing the compensation to the families of the deceased to Rs. 10 lakhs each, action against the Dharmapuri district police and bringing out a 'white paper' on that district administration's apathy when the bus carrying the TNAU students was burning, were reasonable, but the Government has chosen to turn a Nelson's eye to them, the SFI State committee president, Mr. K. Thangamohan, said in a statement here.

Taking cudgels on behalf of the TNAU students, the SFI office- bearers, after meeting the aggrieved students, announced a State- wide fast on February 9, to press the former's demands and sought the support of all the democratic students organisations for it so that a joint, effective struggle was possible.

Criticising the manner in which the Coimbatore District Administration was handling the situation at the TNAU, where students were understandably in a grim and unrelenting mood until their legitimate demands were met, the SFI said needlessly increasing the police pickets at the university only added to the tense situation.

Similarly, the closure of all educational institutions in Coimbatore district was uncalled for, the SFI said and urged the Tamil Nadu Government to intervene in the matter immediately and take positive steps to resolve the issue.

Meanwhile, the CPI demanded a CBI probe into the ghastly killings, considering the conflicting reports about the incident.

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