CHITWAN: Police in Chitwan district today released students of Chitwan Medical College who were arrested for staging demonstration on Tuesday. The medical students have been staging demonstration in front of the Bharatpur-based hospital for 10 days accusing the college of arbitrarily charging fees.

According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Shaligram Sharma at Chitwan District Police Office (DPO), of the 16 students arrested, nine were released yesterday evening while seven others including Prakash Chand, son of Netra Bikram Chand -- general secretary of Communist Party of Nepal (CPN), were released from the police custody this morning.

DSP Sharma said the students were arrested after they obstructed regular services at the hospital and tried to vandalise the properties. He said the arrestees were released after general inquiry.

Apart from the arrest made during the demonstration, at least 15 students were injured in the clash that erupted as security personnel used force to stop them from entering the hospital premises, according to one of the students. He said some of those injured were receiving treatment at the medical college while others at local health institutions and clinics. However, police claimed that nobody was injured in the clash.

The demonstration is led by Chand who is an MBBS student at the college. The demonstration is taking place to pressurise the college to lower the fees being charged more than the amount recommended by the government.