A clash that broke out between activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI) and All India Students Federation (AISF) during an election of students representative to the Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU) Senate the other day appears to be snowballing into a major crisis with the police slapping non-bailable charges against 10 SFI activists.
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Acting on a complaint lodged by a woman activist of the AISF to Kottayam District Police Chief, cases have been booked against the SFI workers under provisions, including outraging the modesty of woman and Sections under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Among those who have been arraigned as accused include Amal Sohan and Arsho, State vice president and Ernakulam district committee president respectively of the SFI.
As per the complaint, the accused allegedly raised a threat of sexual assault on the woman and groped her during the clash. The complainant named Arun, a State committee member of the SFI who now serves as a personal staff of Higher Education Minister R. Bindu, among the assailants.
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Speaking to the media persons in Kottayam, AISF State president A. Kabir accused the SFI of unleashing a violent assault without any provocation. “From the time of filing nominations, the AISF district committee had been in consultation with the SFI for contesting as a united front to the Senate. In the absence of a positive response from the SFI, we decided to contest on our own,” he said.
As per reports, the woman leader was attacked while attempting to save one of her fellow activists during the clash.