Students at the Lovely Professional University (LPU) at Phagwara in Punjab’s Kapurthala district resorted to vandalism early Sunday to protest over unverified reports of a student being raped at the university premise who later died by suicide, which turned violent later in the day after protestors pelted stones at police and attacked their vehicles, leaving several cops injured.
Following an overnight protest, which involved students ransacking the campus, setting parts of buildings on fire and blocking a stretch of Delhi-Amritsar national highway, police said a rape case has been registered against an unknown person and a seven-member special investigation team (SIT) has been constituted to investigate the matter.
However, the situation went out of control in the evening after talks between the protesting students failed as the police kept on asking the students to clear the national highway.
Instead, they were met with bottles hurled by the agitators, prompting them to resort to a mild lathi charge that further aggravated the situation, setting ablaze three SUVs, six motorbikes, besides damaging police vehicles.
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{{/usCountry}}Also Read | LPU postpones mid-term exams, suspends classes for 10 days amid violent protests
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, the blockade continued on the highway.
According to a complaint by students, a construction worker sexually assaulted a female student in the university hostel. DIG Jalandhar Range Naveen Singla cited the claims made by students and said the incident happened three days ago, while the hostel warden allegedly forced the victim to leave for her home instead of informing the incident to the police, following which the student died by suicide at her home.
“We have also included five representatives of the protesting students in the probe team. The matter will be thoroughly investigated as all the digital and technical evidence will be taken on record,” Singla said.
However, there was no clarity on the identification of the victim. The university, however, dismissed the rape-suicide claim, and accused “anti-social elements” of “creating unnecessary confusion among students and attempting to disturb the peaceful academic environment of the University”.
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“Certain anti-social elements are spreading completely false, baseless and fabricated rumours through social media and other channels, thereby creating unnecessary confusion among students and attempting to disturb the peaceful academic environment of the University,” Monica Gulati, registrar, LPU, said in a statement.
The university also released a video of three girl students, who claimed to be inhabitants of a hostel room in which the protesting students alleged the sexual assault incident happened. “The girls claimed that no such incident happened in their room situated on the fifth floor. The girls claimed that they have been subjected to mental trauma ever since the number of their hotel room came out in public,” the video stated.
LPU vice-chancellor Jaspal Singh Sandhu said no report or complaint on the sexual assault had come to his notice till Sunday morning.