Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 27: Several law students of Jammu University were briefly detained today after they blocked a vital road in support of their demand to set up a National Law University here, officials said.
The students, who took out a march from the university campus, were stopped by police shortly after crossing the main gate while heading towards the nearby Tawi Bridge in the heart of the city, the officials said.
However, they managed to break the police cordon and stage a sit-in at Tawi Bridge, blocking traffic, the officials said.
Senior police and civil officers rushed to the spot, but the students ignored their pleas to return to the campus, following which many of them were detained and taken to a nearby police post, they said, adding that the detainees were released later.
Talking to reporters, the student leaders said they took to the streets to press the government to set up a National Law University (NLU) in Jammu.
“We are not demanding anything extraordinary. We are just demanding our rights. If an NLU can be set up in Kashmir, why not in Jammu,” a female student asked.
The Central University of Jammu could not start a law department for the past 13 years, leaving the students intending to study law with only the option to get admission in Jammu University’s law department, she said.
“We are not against granting an NLU to Kashmir, but we want a similar university to be set up here as well,” she added.
“When Jammu got an IIT and an IIM, what did Kashmir get? Why didn’t you talk about equality then? Why didn’t you say that one institute should be opened in Jammu and the other in Kashmir?
“You people did not feel bad then. But when it comes to the National Law University, you suddenly see discrimination. Leave this decision to us. No decision has been taken yet as to where to locate it (NLU). Let us take the decision, and then we will see,” Abdullah told reporters earlier this month.
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