Sixteen students of Hyderabad’s Osmania University were arrested on Thursday morning over their plan to have a beef festival on campus in defiance of a court ban.
A lawmaker, Raja Singh, was also placed under house arrest as the authorities tried to ward against communal trouble. Singh, who represents the Goshamahal area, had pledged to celebrate “Gau Seva Diwas” or cow protection day to counter the beef festival.
The BJP lawmaker has also planned a protest rally.
Meanwhile, Swami Paripoornananda Saraswati condemned the attempts to hold beef festival, and said “this would hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus as cow is considered sacred.”
Osmania University, one of the oldest educational institutions of higher learning, has already clarified that activities unrelated to academics, including ‘beef festival’, ‘pork festival’ and ‘gau-puja’ would not be permitted on the campus.
A students’ group had earlier declared that it would hold a ‘beef festival’ on the campus today, coinciding with the #WorldHumanRightsDay, while another group also announced its plan to organise a ‘pork festival’ the same day, which raised the possibility of confrontation.
On the University premises, police have imposed restrictions on movement of people and vehicles. Barricades have been put up at all the vantage points of the institution.
Earlier this week, several students were stopped by the police from taking out a two-km run in support of the beef festival.
Osmania University, one of the oldest educational institutions of higher learning, had earlier announced that it would not allow activities unrelated to academics, including the beef and pork festivals on its campus.