KATHMANDU: Scores of students of Padma Kanya (PK) College were injured, two seriously, in a brawl with the police as they tried to take out a torch rally here today. They were denouncing the rape of Suntali Dhami, a policewoman raped by her co-workers in Achham.

Two seriously injured - Laxmi Aryal and Laxmi Dahal - are being treated at the Kathmandu Model Hospital, said Swastika Pokharel, president of Free Students' Union, PK unit. Police also briefly detained a dozen students.

Talking to The Himalayan Times, she said, “Police hit our two colleagues - Aryal and Dahal - mercilessly with their boots targeting their breast and stomach."

Condition of Aryal is reported to be critical. The Free Students' Union had condemned the act, arguing that the police had brazenly intervened in their peaceful protest.

PK girls had planned the torch rally during the broad day light in what they argue was symbolic of the suffering undergone by women in the country. But the police intervened them in the nick of time, preventing them from advancing further to Ratna Park.

They have charged the coalition government of denying justice to one Suntali Dhami even as she was gang-raped by policemen on a broad day light.

PK girls have warned of stringent protests in the coming days should the government continue to lend a deaf ear to their call for justice to Dhami.

They have also put off their protests scheduled tomorrow in view of Tribhuvan University's convocation day.