Kejriwal 'shocked' at FTII crackdown, asks students to run classes in Delhi

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has expressed shock over the arrest of five FTII students in a midnight crackdown by Maharashtra Police.

Writing on Twitter, Kejriwal said that the Central government was systematically destroying the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).

“Am shocked to hear whats gng on at FTII. An internationally reputed institute being systematically destroyed by govt's wrong decisions (sic),” Kejriwal tweeted Wednesday morning.

He further made an offer to agitating FTII students.

My offer to FTII students- Del govt can provide u temp space in Del. Run ur classes here till central govt agrees(2/3)

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 19, 2015

If finally, central govt doesn't agree, we'll convert this place into full fledged institute n students can continue studying here only(3/3) — Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 19, 2015

In a post-midnight swoop, Maharashtra police early Wednesday arrested five students of FTII from the campus for rioting, damaging properties and other charges.

The arrests came after a group of striking students confined FTII director Prashant Pathrabe and other staffers in his office for eight hours, and vandalised office furniture and fittings on Monday.

The students, numbering more than two dozen, were protesting against what they alleged was "irrational and unjustified" pro-rata course project assessment of the 2008 batch.

The students also formed a human chain to stop Pathrabe from stepping out, threw rapid fire questions at him repeatedly, shouted slogans like "PM Narendra Modi & Arun Jaitley murdabad" and caused mental torture to the officials.

Following the incident, Pathrabe lodged a complaint with Deccan Police Station late Tuesday.

The police swung into action by registering a FIR against 15 students and sent teams to the campus at around 12.45 am.

In the action, at least five were picked up and arrested on various charges, including rioting under the Indian Penal Code, and other non-bailable offences, around 2 am, a police official said.

They will be produced before a magistrate later today.

Police teams are on the lookout for the others, including at least three women, who they believe maybe hiding in or around the FTII campus.

The police crackdown caps the 72-day-old agitation in which a section of the students are opposing the appointment of BJP member and TV actor Gajendra Chauhan as FTII chairman.