In prison, Hyderabad varsity students, professors keep classes' on

Hyderabad: Hyderabad’s Cherlapally Jail is now witnessing something unprecedented. Detained University of Hyderabad professors and students are spending their time taking classes on social sciences and on the current politicial situation in the country.

In the barracks, where the 27 arrested are lodged, there are active debates over several issues and student movements. They are  getting books and newspapers each time they get visitors. Friends and family members who visited them say they have been asked to carry forward the struggle and not to get intimidated by alleged police brutalities.

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Among the 27 arrested, 24 are students, two are faculty members and one is a documentary filmmaker. Officials from within the prison, who confirmed that the students are taking part in academic and political discourse, claim there is now a positive vibe in the jail — which they have not seen before.

For example, 53-year-old Prof Konda Yesu Ratnam from the university’s Political Science department, who was arrested by police along with students, is now taking ‘classes’ inside the prison, sources said.   

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Jail officials say the arrested are in the admission barracks —two large halls — where they have access to a library. “They can interact with each other and have access to books and newspapers,” said a senior official.

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Nayana M., a UoH student, who visited the jail said the detainees looked upbeat. “They said that Ratnam and other senior research scholars are now taking classes on various topics to spend time productively,” she said.