Jalandhar, Sep 28 (IANS) Amid the widespread chaos and unrest in Punjab’s Lovely Professional University (LPU) campus in Phagwara, the college administration has suspended classes for 10 days and also deferred mid-term examinations until further notice.
Hundreds of hostel students including boys and girls, leaving the campus for their homes, are heaving a sigh of relief over peace returning to the campus but many of them state that they can’t forget the “scary and violent” scenes that they witnessed inside the campus.
They were rather forced to endure it, as they had no option but to stay put, hiding themselves from thugs and lumpen elements, who allegedly broke into the campus and ran amok for two nights.
Several students, speaking to IANS, claimed that the violence was unleased by ‘outsiders’ and not the college students.
“It’s the outsiders who barged into the college campus, in drunken state and went on rampage, beating students and damaging properties,” they claimed.
Aditya, a student pursuing B-Tech from the LPU University, said that he has packed his bags and is heading home, without any immediate plans to return.
When asked about the prevailing circumstances, he said that the situation is very tense and cited alleged rape of a girl student as the trigger for unprecedented violence in the campus.
“Many men from outside the campus, drunk and armed with canes and rods came inside and vandalised the campus and its property,” he said.
“We saw them beating girl students black and blue,” he claimed.
He said that the hostel warden has confirmed that a girl student was raped, however, those running riot on the campus were not college students because they won’t destroy the college property, built on their own fees.
Manoj Kumar, a parent from Haryana’s Sonipat, whose three children study in LPU, said that he didn’t get any intimation from the college administration but his children were witness to the raging violence and turmoil on the campus.
Narrating the sequence of events, as briefed to him, he said, “We received information about chaos and turmoil on mobile phone. We panicked on hearing about it.”
“The children said that they couldn’t sleep last night. By morning, the situation was under control. However, the next day, the situation escalated as outsiders ventured into the campus and started beating up students, misbehaving with girl students, also forcefully entered the girls’ hostel,” he told IANS.
The concerned parent arrived at the campus in the wee hours of Monday, after learning about college closure for ten days and was ready to take his children home.
Divyansh Tiwari, a first-year student said that he and his friends came to know about college violence from Reddit, a social media App.
“We got the news on Reddit that a third-year girl student was raped. She was sent home, and then we learnt that she committed suicide at her home,” he said.
“I am witness to the violence and arson that happened at night. There were no less than 2,000 to 3,000 youth who ran amok on the campus, destroying and torching properties,” he recalled, while adding that the situation was under control during daytime.
“They ransacked the girl’s hostel, they burnt down our classrooms, they can’t be students, they looked in the age group of 40-50 years,” he further stated.
“I was shocked and terrified, have never seen such horror unfold before my eyes before,” he added.
Naina Sahu, another first year B Com student, supported his claims and said that she saw people wearing masks, entering the campus and unleashing violence.
“We heard about the rape incident but don’t know whether it’s a rumour or real. We feel very unsafe here and want to leave the campus as soon as possible,” she stated.
Meanwhile, an FIR has been lodged and a Special Investigation Team formed to investigate the violence.
Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav speaking to mediapersons today, confirmed that the violence broke out on the intervening night of September 26-27, over some rumours. He said that the police teams were deployed soon after violence broke out and efforts were made to address the grievances of students against the University administration.
–IANS
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