A group of protesting students were detained after they blocked the roads in Old Rajinder Nagar in New Delhi while demanding justice for the deaths of three civil services aspirants and compensation for their families.
The protesters had blocked the road next to the Karol Bagh Metro Station, causing huge traffic jam in the area.
A scuffle broke out as the police tried to disperse them, following which some protesters were detained and taken away in a bus.
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The Delhi Police said in a statement that the students had blocked both carriageways of Pusa Road near Karol Bagh Metro Station, an important route with several hospitals nearby.
“Roads in Old Rajinder Nagar were blocked by protesting students after the incident of flooding of the basement of a coaching institute. They were repeatedly requested to not block the main road by DCP Central as well as DM Central. Since they refused to clear the main road even after an hour, they were removed from there, considering the massive public inconvenience and nearby hospitals,” Delhi Police said.
Aman Saxena, a civil services aspirant and coaching student, said, "If the authorities will not accept our demands, we will go to the Jantar Mantar to further protest and press our demands," Saxena declared. "We just want justice for the three students who lost their lives in this incident. Police personnel and paramilitary forces have been deployed here in huge numbers. We are not terrorists; we are the future of the nation and demanding what is right."
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Mohak Gupta, another coaching student, said, "We have come here to study and students want a safe environment for exam preparation. The condition is same at every coaching institute. When mock tests are being held, thousands of students sit in the basement areas to appear in those tests."
"We had hoped of a change in the condition of coaching centres after the fire incident at the coaching institute in Mukherjee Nagar, but nothing happened," Gupta said.
With inputs from agencies