Chennai, July 17 -- Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Nainar Nagendran was on Thursday prevented by the police from meeting detained part-time teachers who have been staging protests in Chennai, demanding the regularisation of their jobs.

The teachers, detained earlier in the day, were being held at the government marriage hall in Triplicane.

Speaking to reporters outside the venue, Nagendran criticised the police for arresting peaceful protestors while allegedly failing to find the accused who had raped a 10-year-old girl in Gumidipoondi in Thiruvallore district.

Part-time teachers from schools across Tamil Nadu have been protesting for more than a week, demanding the regularisation of their jobs in Chennai. Today, the...