Chennai college bans mobiles, birthday parties; creates uproar

Chennai: A ban on birthday parties, use of WhatsApp and girl students talking to boys allegedly imposed by a leading engineering college here led to an uproar and street protests by a section of its students today.

A protesting student claimed that an 'unsigned' circular in this regard was put up on the college's notice board and withdrawn subsequently after the issue snowballed into an outrage.

Denying issuing any such circular, the college management clarified to the Anna University, to which it is affiliated, that it could have been the handiwork of outsiders.

The so-called notice was widely carried in social networking sites, leading to the outrage.

"No celebrations like birthday, should not bring sweets to college, should not bring mobiles, should not have account in Facebook, WhatsApp and not to talk with boy students" were some of the restrictions mentioned in the alleged circular.

The protesting students, who were later temporarily detained by the police, ensured removal of the notice.

When asked, a senior official from the management denied issuing such a notice and said the management has explained to top officials of the Anna University in this regard.

"Students were staging protest on their own and filed a complaint with the Anna University. What the management did was to explain to the Registrar, Anna University, that we have not issued any such notice. The problem has been resolved now," the official told PTI on conditions of anonymity.