Our students are not criminals Modiji: Rahul Gandhi says after FTII students arrests

"Protesting #FTII students arrested in #midnightcrackdown.Our students are not criminals Modiji.Silence.Suspend.Arrest:ModiMantra for AcheDin,"  Gandhi's official Twitter page posted.

Gandhi had earlier met the protesting students.

Justifying the arrest of five students in a midnight crackdown, FTII director Prashant Pathrabe on Wednesday said he was "tortured" by the agitating students.

"I was illegally confined for 8-10 hours. The students used interrogation techniques, they were disrespectful and abusive, they asked me the same question six-seven times - no human being could have answered that,"  Pathrabe told reporters.

"I wonder how they can be called students," he said.

Pathrabe has named 17 students, including three girls, and also mentioned 30 other students in his police complaint.

A three-member team from the information and broadcasting ministry will visit Pune on Thursday to assess the crisis.

Students have been charged with obstructing a public servant from doing his duty - a non-bailable offence - besides destruction of property, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation and rioting.

Protesting the arrest of  their mates, the agitating students of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India  have alleged that an "Emergency" has been declared  in the prestigious institute for film and television studies which has been going through a turmoil for more than two months.

FTII Wisdom Tree, a community created by the institute's students on Facebook has asked: "Dear Government,Are these five people really worth all this chaos?"

The reaction comes on the 69th day of  their  agitation and hours after five students were arrested by police from campus following a complaint by the  institute's director. .

The students have been on a strike protesting the government's decision to appoint Gajendra Gadkar as the institute's chief.