Rights activists and professors at Tribhuvan University staged demonstrations on Tuesday in support of assistant professor Prem Chalaune.

Campaigners under the banner of the Broad Citizens’ Movement staged demonstrations outside the Kathmandu District Court premises in Babarmahal while the Nepal Pragatisil Pradhyapak Sangathan took to the Office of the Vice Chancellor in Kirtipur.

Police later detained demonstrators from outside the district court.

Chalaune started a hunger strike outside the same office, shortly after his release from detention, at the Kirtipur-based varsity on Monday.

According to Professor Ramesh Bhattarai, the demonstrations have been called on to show their solidarity towards Chalaune and to raise their voice for justice.

Chalaune, an assistant professor of sociology at the university campus in Kirtipur, was brutally beaten on campus on October 6, 2020, by a gang including Hari Acharya, TU chapter president of Nepali Congress-affiliated Nepal Students’ Union (NSU); Yogendra Rawal, secretary of the same organisation; along with other members of the union.

Chalaune had sustained serious injuries on his head, chest and thighs, and spent a month in hospital.

Even as a case of attempted murder against the assailants is sub judice at the District Court, the Cabinet on June 13 decided to withdraw the case.