Kerala - Kozhikode   

SFI activists lay siege to MES office

Staff Reporter

In protest against interviews to NRI quota in medical college

KOZHIKODE: Tension prevailed for more than four hours at the office of the Muslim Education Society (MES) on Bank Road here on Tuesday following a blockade by the activists of the Students Federation of India (SFI) to protest against conducting interviews to its medical college in the Non Resident Indian (NRI) category. Around 20 SFI activists staged a sit-in in front of the MES office from 11.30 a.m. to 3.45 pm. They shouted slogans against the MES management for conducting interviews when the issue of admissions in self-financing professional colleges is still pending in the High Court of Kerala.

MES general secretary P.A. Fazal Gafoor, Superintendent of the M.E.S. Medical College at Perintalmannna M. Mujeeb Rehman, three students and their parents locked themselves up in the room while the demonstration went on all these hours. A large posse of police remained mute witness to the episode.

Kozhikode City Police Commissioner H. Venkatesh and Assistant Commissioner of Police (South) K. Jayendran were present at the spot. Later, Mr. Venkatesh said that a case was registered at the Nadakkavu police station in connection with the incident. The agitators were charged with Section 447 (criminal trespass) of the Indian Penal Code.

The issue was settled after a discussion among the Kozhikode MLA A. Pradeepkumar, Koduvally MLA P.T.A. Abdul Rahim, and Dr. Gafoor. According to the agreement all interviews would be conducted only after the High Court of Kerala passed orders on the Kerala Self Financing Professional Colleges Act on July 27. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader and former Minister M.K. Muneer, who arrived at the MES office, was not allowed to participate in the discussion by the police. Around 50 students and their parents had turned up at the MES office for the interview on Tuesday morning. They said that they had already remitted the fees for the course and that they had been told to bring their original certificates.

However, Dr. Gafoor denied the allegations that the MES was conducting interviews in the NRI quota. The students had been asked to come for clarifying the quota in the NRI category. He later told presspersons that Muslim organisations would drop its idea of holding talks and would not mind taking to the streets against the Left Democratic Front Government.

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