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‘MDU students’ arrest unlawful’: Rohtak court orders release
The PGIMS police had booked five persons, including four students and a YouTuber under Sections 115, 190, 191(2), 333 and 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and arrested two students on Friday.
A day after two students of the Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) in Rohtak were arrested on charges of trespassing for storming the vice chancellor’s (VC) official residence and accusing him of running an illegal “flowerpot factory”, a local court here on Saturday termed the arrest “unlawful” and ordered the police to release both the students identified as Pradeep Mota and Kapil Fouji immediately.
The PGIMS police had booked five persons, including four students and a YouTuber under Sections 115, 190, 191(2), 333 and 351(3) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and arrested two students on Friday.
Talking to HT, lawyer Surender Verma, who represented the students, said that both the students were produced before judicial magistrate (first class) Ravleen Kaur and police sought four days remand of Pradeep Mota to recover his car and ascertain the identity of other students involved in the protest, besides seeking judicial custody of Kapil Fouji.
“The judge observed that the students were arrested unlawfully and ordered the police to release them. The students were released by the police,” he added.
After their release from police custody, Pradeep Mota, who led the protest march at vice-chancellor Prof Rajbir Singh’s residence, said that he had filed a complaint with PGIMS police against the Vice-chancellor for misusing university funds and running an ‘illegal flower factory’.
“The vice-chancellor and his associates had sold nearly 1 lakh flowerpots at ₹2,500 each so far and we had found over 10,000 flowerpots yesterday at his residence. The VC had earned huge money and his other misdeeds will be exposed soon. After entering the VC residence, we informed senior officials of the varsity but he levelled false allegations against us of trying to attack his old mother. We urge the government to initiate a probe against him, otherwise we will launch an indefinite stir,” he added.
Protesters led by Dr Ambedkar Missionaries Vidhyarthi Association president Vikram Singh Dumolia organised a protest march on the campus to condemn the arrest of the students. Talking to media, Dumolia alleged that the vice-chancellor Rajbir Singh is indulged in corrupt activities and he had misused university funds for his personal benefits.
“The vice-chancellor had hired labourers from outside to take care of these flowers, which were mainly sold in Gurugram and Delhi. He is the first academician to experiment with this business model on campus. We demand the government remove him from his post to save the university,” he added.
Students also protested the arrest of two students for two hours outside the residence of registrar Krishan Kant on Friday night.
Another student leader Kapil Bhukkar said that all the student unions are angered over registration of an FIR against students and they are committed to save this university.
“We are planning to meet the Haryana governor and submit a list of corrupt activities that took place in the tenure of the present VC,” he added.
Jannayak Janata Party leader Pradeep Deswal demanded a probe over money spent on renovation of the vice chancellor’s residence.
“The government should also probe how much Rajbir Singh and his family’s movable and immovable property increased in the last five-and-a-half-years,” he added.
A day earlier, MDU registrar Krishan Kant had rubbished the allegations against the VC and termed them false and baseless.
