Contrary to the initial reports, the members of the SFI unit of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) now say that they did not clash with the members of the KSU, but with a group of miscreants who've been promoting the use of drugs in the campus.
There were media reports that said that the left-leaning SFI clashed with the Congress' student wing KSU on Tuesday, thereby injuring a few students. Following this, the Kalamassery police had arrested 50 students. This on the day of the college senate elections. The SFI members nevertheless say that there was no incident of conflict between the two organisation, but they only tried to protect themselves from the attack of a group of students by the name Malabaris, who are involved in the supply of alcohol and illegal drugs inside the campus.
"Malabaris are a group of anti-social elements who've been involved with drug peddling, ragging and create a nuisance to the students. From the beginning, they were always against the SFI. There have been various instances were the SFI members were manhandled by them. What happened yesterday was a similar event," says TP Jibin, a BCom LLB student. "They were armed with knives and swords. They even charged towards the police," he adds.
The police have arrested around 47 students in connection with the incident. But at the same time, a few other student groups alleged that a few SFI-favouring hooligans charged into the hostel, purposely to injure students. "More than 20 of these hooligans are not arrested until now. They've hurt a lot of students who do not have any political allegiance [sic]," wrote the Fraternity Movement - CUSAT on their Facebook page.
