Fourteen women members of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF) travelling from Pune to Delhi for a protest were detained at Itarsi railway station in Madhya Pradesh on Thursday evening, according to a report by The Times of India. The group was travelling on the Goa Express when police intercepted them at the railway junction amid security measures ahead of the protest called by CJP.
The students were later taken to a local hotel, where they were kept in a banquet hall under restricted access. The general manager of the hotel, Deepak Chaudhary, confirmed to The Times of India that the group was brought to the premises between 6pm and 7pm.
Chaudhary said the students had been secluded in the banquet hall and that hotel staff were not allowed to enter the area. He added that food and water had been provided to them on the instructions of the authorities.
Shravni Duwa, an AISF Pune member among those detained, alleged that police entered the train at Itarsi junction at about 5.45pm and shouted at the passengers. She told The Times of India that a scuffle followed, during which clothes were torn and one woman suffered a bruised leg.
Duwa also alleged that the group had been kept at the hotel for about 18 hours without being allowed to speak to lawyers or consult a doctor. These allegations were reported by The Times of India and have not been accompanied in the supplied report by a police response or an official explanation of the action.
The incident places a railway junction and a passenger train at the centre of a wider dispute over the policing of movement ahead of a political protest. It also raises questions about the procedures used when travelling groups are stopped en route and transferred from railway premises to private accommodation.
The supplied report does not state whether the students were formally arrested, whether any legal order was issued, or when they would be allowed to continue their journey. No statement from the Madhya Pradesh Police or other authorities was included.
