The volatile situation at Phagwara’s Lovely Professional University (LPU), sparked by unverified reports of a female student’s rape on campus, caught the district administration completely off guard, spiralling into widespread arson, vanadalism and chaos across the 600-acre campus.
What raised serious alarm is how the unrest spread on Sunday evening despite the heavy deployment of police personnel, who had been stationed at the varsity since early morning following an initial flare-up late Saturday night.
With a mob of masked youths rampaging on campus, hurling stones and glass bottles, cops were forced to retreat as agitators torched police SUVs, damaged motorcycles, and set two university blocks on fire.
“How and why the protesting students, most of whom were outsiders, were allowed to run amok is astonishing to us. The brazen display of violence continued late into the night, and it seemed there was no one to handle the situation,” said a senior LPU faculty member, pleading anonymity.
With local police unable to stem the violence, the director general of police (DGP) asked Jalandhar police commissioner Satinder Singh, an officer known for handling crisis situations, to take charge. Along with additional director general of police (PAP) MF Farooqui, Satinder arrived around 9 pm to regain control of the campus.
DC’s absence during critical hrs raises brows
{{/usCountry}}DC’s absence during critical hrs raises brows
{{/usCountry}}Questions are also being raised over the “glaring absence” of Kapurthala deputy commissioner Akash Bansal during the critical hours when the unrest peaked. Senior officials pointed out that while Phagwara additional deputy commissioner Randeep Singh Heer and sub-divisional magistrate Navjot Kaur were present, the administrative leadership failed to proactively intervene or negotiate with protesters who had blocked National Highway-44 (Delhi to Amritsar), with commuters bearing the brunt.
“Officials from the district administration should have been leading negotiations with the protesting students,” a top police functionary said, requesting anonymity. “Instead, the police were forced to juggle core law-and-order duties with administrative roles that essentially belong to the DC’s office.”
Another faculty member, who did not want to be named, said: “It’s surprising that while the situation at Chitkara University, which also witnessed a violent protest by students late Friday night was controlled within three hours, it took police almost two days to handle the crisis at LPU.”
Eyebrows are also being raised over why no prohibitory orders under section 163 of Bharatiya Nagrik Surakaha Sanhita (BNNS), which empowers the sub-divisional magistrate to ban public gatherings of four or more people to prevent riots, danger, or nuisance, were put in place on Sunday despite violence the previous night.
‘Delay’ in digital shutdown
The delay by the administration to shut down the mobile internet across a 3-kilometer radius around the campus until Monday morning, long after the campus was vandalised and rumours had already spread unchecked, has also come under scrutiny
Defending the administration’s response, Kapurthala DC, who reached the spot only late in the evening, said that senior administrative officers were on-site engaging all stakeholders. “My whole staff, including the ADC and SDM, were stationed at the spot holding discussions. The situation was well controlled by the civil and district administration, as there was no loss of life during such an intense protest, though property was damaged,” Bansal added.
Special DGP (law and order) Praveen Kumar Sinha said the situation was completely controlled well before internet services were suspended. The services were stalled to ensure that the rumours didn’t travel and create further nuisance. “Shutting down internet is a very tactical decision as it has flip side too, therefore we have to take balance approach too,” he said.