SFI activists were injured in police lathicharge

The police clashed with SFÚ activists on Tuesday Photo credit: ARARUNRAJ

Students Federation of India (SFI) activists sustained injuries in a police lathicharge during the SFI protest march to the Kerala University headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday to protest the release of the full version of Vande Mataram during the National Sports Day celebrations organized by the university earlier in the day.

The protest escalated after the police stopped SFÚ activists at the university gate. Police used water cannon to disperse the protesters. Soon after, the police resorted to lathicharge in which two women activists sustained injuries. The protestors eventually entered the campus by scaling the compound wall and raising slogans against Kerala University Vice-Chancellor (in-charge) Mohanan Kunnummal and the state government, accusing them of running the university as per the dictates of the Sangh Parivar.

SFI state president PS Sanjeev said SFI central committee member Arya Prasad and state secretariat member Vaishnavi sustained head injuries. He said the SFI would continue its protests to prevent the transfer of state universities to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In protest against the police action, SFÚ will march to the secretariat on Wednesday.

Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan accused the police of brutally attacking the students without any provocation and said that intolerance towards protests against the subordination of the UDF Sangh Parivar government was behind the police brutality. “Students exercised their right to protest democratically. Their protests should be met through discussion and democratic means. The government’s attempt to quell the protests with lathi and force is unacceptable. It is shocking that the police even hit a student in the eye with a lathi. The police also brutally beat up female students without the presence of policewomen. The policemen who unfairly lathicharged the students should be prosecuted immediately for lathi charge against the guilty officers,” he said.

Published – 01 Sep 2026 20:53 IST