New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS) Violence broke out on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus late Sunday evening when four outsiders in an inebriated state were caught teasing women students and Delhi Police had to resort to baton charge and teargas to disperse the agitated students.

Students of the university said that three students were seriously injured and were rushed to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences Trauma Centre, while about 40 others, including some faculty members and the university's private security agency guards suffered minor injuries. Some 20 students have been detained and the four men arrested.

The four men were identified as Nitin Kapoor, Ankit Nanda, Amit Chauhan and Gagan Kumar.

While Nanda is from Malviya Nagar, and the rest are from Laxmibai Nagar in Delhi.

According to students, the trouble started when four men in an inebriated state were caught misbehaving with girl students and threatening a security guard by putting a gun to his head on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus.

According to the varsity students, the four men came inside the campus around 3.30 p.m. They were drinking in their white Hyundai Accent car.

"They then started misbehaving with girl students and passed some lewd remarks. A girl student then reported the matter to one of the guards on the duty. One of the four men then said he was son of a senior police officer and put a gun to the guard's head," said Saurabh Gupta, a student at the university.

"The guard raised an alarm, upon which a large number of students gathered and caught hold of them. The four men were roughed up and the police were called," he added.

But before the police could arrive, the agitated students damaged their car and tried to set fire to it.

Police took the four men into their custody but till late in the evening students did not allow the cops to take the four men outside the campus. After this the police had to resort to baton charge.

Over 500-600 students had surrounded the police van. They were demanding apologies from the accused in front of senior police officers and a permanent deployment of a police van on the campus.

"Such incidents of outsiders coming to the campus are rising. Not only were they drunk, but they also misbehaved with students," said Aarti, another student.

A police officer on condition of anonymity said they have registered a case at the Vasant Vihar police station and were trying to calm down the students.

The police were, however, not sure whether the accused were carrying a gun.