Pera undergrads protest over court summons

January 23, 2012, 9:56 pm , The Island.

by Dasun Edirisinghe

Undergraduates of the Peradeniya University protested at Galaha junction yesterday against 25 students being asked to appear before courts over ragging.

President of the Students Council Mahesh Lanka told The Island that those students had been summoned to appear before court on Thursday Jan. 26 claiming they were involved in ragging a student.

He said that all were arts faculty students and they included four females.

"We held a demonstration opposite the Senate building before moving to the Galaha junction," Lanka said adding that parents of those students too participated in the protest.

According to him, there were several academic and welfare problems in the university and higher education sector. When students protest over those grievances, the university administration hunted the student leaders.

Few weeks ago, the university administration suspended all student unions including the Students Council, Lanka said adding that however they had to withdraw the suspension following their protests.

He said that their members did not get involved in ragging, but university administration continuously pointed the finger at them.

"Now the university administration has started to hunt student leaders by deploying police and filing court cases against us," Lanka said warning if the situation continued they would launch a massive protest with undergraduates from other universities.