New Delhi: Over 300 students of medical and other colleges held a rally here on Tuesday to protest the 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes students in higher educational institutions. The police used water canons to disperse the protesters and detained nearly 200 students.

Kaushal Kant Mishra, a Youth for Equality member, claimed that 15 students were injured when the police fired water cannon and dragged the students to police vans.

Students from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Maulana Azad Medical College, University College of Medical Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University and Indraprastha University gathered at Connaught Place to stage a demonstration.

Holding banners and placards, they marched to Janpath and burnt an effigy of Human Resource and Development Minister Arjun Singh. "Our demands are that the Supreme Court order on the OBC quota should be implemented in the right manner and spirit," Mishra said.

On April 10, the apex court upheld the law for implementing 27 per cent quota for OBCs in centrally-run educational institutions of higher learning. Last month, about 350 students from premier medical and other colleges held a protest rally on the lawns of the Supreme Court. Around 10 students were injured in a clash with the police.

Source : IANS