Mid-Day

Mumbai, May 24: A number of prank SMSs - in the name of protesting students - are fuelling the fire of the anti-reservation agitation in the city.

Over the past few days, thousands of cellphone users in Mumbai have received messages from Youth For Equality (YFE), a nationwide students’ body, creating a number of misunderstandings.

For example, last Sunday, a false message on the death of a protesting student in Delhi was doing the rounds. This led to a flurry of calls and emails from all over the country, with concerned citizens asking the YFE for details.

The students’ group is now saddled with the extra burden of pleading with the public to ignore such messages.

Dr Gunjan Kumar Sharma, a YFE activist, said, “Over 50 students did fall unconscious because of their indefinite hunger strike and the extreme heat in Delhi. There are chances that this message originated in YFE. But the part about a student’s death is plain exaggeration. It’s creating unnecessary chaos.”

“We are constantly receiving text messages and emails, saying a student is dead and many are critical, but this is not true. It’s an additional responsibility for us to tell everyone to ignore these messages,” he added.

Dr Prashant Chaudhary, All India Institute of Medical Sciences spokesperson, said doctors were keeping an eye on the physical condition of those on hunger strike.

“Whenever a student feels uneasy, we immediately transfer him to the hospital. We provide him with glucose and replace him with another student. We don’t want any student to suffer bodily harm,” said Dr Chaudhary.
 
Fake messages

- In AIIMS, 96 hours of hunger strike, 94 students collapse. Media prohibited from covering. If you believe in our cause, please spread it like fire and support us before it’s too late — Youth For Equality

- 20/05/2006,  6.44 pm, a student has died in the hunger strike at Delhi, media is still not covering the event, pass this message to all — Youth For Equality

- Subhash Shrivastav (AIIMS student), has died because of hunger strike protesting against reservation and media is not covering it. Please pass this to all. Pass it to everyone and spread this like fire. We have to fight for our rights n we have to support these students who are fighting for us — Youth For Equality