Knife attacks leave six undergrads injured

November 10, 2011, 9:56 pm

by Dasun Edirisinghe

A bloody clash between two student factions of the Kelaniya University’s Science Faculty early morning yesterday resulted in six undergraduates being injured.

Two of the injured were admitted to the Colombo North Teaching Hospital, Ragama and the other four, were treated and discharged from the Ragama and Kiribathgoda hospitals.

University sources said that one student faction had slashed their rivals with knives as the latter were on their way to the university library.

Police were rushed to disperse irate undergraduates following the attack and they were sent to respective hostels by university buses.Acting police spokesman DIG Maxi Proctor told The Island that security had been tightened in the university with police personnel deployed from the Kriribathgoda police.

He said that four injured students were discharged after treatment by the Ragama Teaching Hospital and Kiribathgoda Hospital, but two others were still warded in the Ragama hospital.

"This clash originated three months ago among two student factions divided on political ideologies," Dean of the Science Faculty Prof. Nalin de Silva said.

He said that one student faction has a majority in the faculty and one has the majority in the hostel.

However, Prof. Silva said that he asked President Mahinda Rajapaksa to intervene to solve the problem as university administration kept silent on the issue.

He accused the UNP and JVP students of backing the faction that carried out the knife attack.

Spokesman for one student faction alleged that Prof. de Silva wanted to maintain a group of students who only tolerate his political views and they were victimized by them.

"They always try to suppress others," he said.

Spokesman for the Students Council of the University Janaka Bandara said that the Science Faculty students union was not under their control and they had no involvement in yesterday’s incident.

The pro – JVP student union said that Faculty Dean always tried to put the responsibility for clashes on them.

"We strongly deny any involvement as claimed by the Dean," Bandara said adding "it’s an internal conflict in the Science Faculty."

There are two separate investigations conduct by the university administration and the Kiribathgoda Police into yesterday’s clash.