Protest against student's killing

The university faculty is riven with factions

Angry students at a leading Indian university, popular with Muslim scholars, have burned down a number of buildings on the campus.

They were protesting against the death of a second-year student, Mazhar Naieem, who was fatally stabbed within the Aligarh Muslim University campus.

Security forces were called in at night to restore order.

The authorities have closed the university and asked resident students to vacate hostels.

The protestors also set fire to the residence of the vice-chancellor.

The university has 32,000 students and nearly 25,000 of them live in hostels.

University Vice-Chancellor Professor Abdul Aziz said, "This unfortunate decision to close the university for an indefinite period has been taken to establish peace on the campus."

This is the third killing at the university in five months.

The university faculty is ridden with factionalism and that is seen as one reason for the recent disturbances on the campus.