Pune police on Saturday registered a case against six named persons and around 50 to 60 workers associated with the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and Youth Congress following a clash with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at the COEP Technological University hostel on Friday night, a day before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ student interaction programme.
The case was registered based on a complaint filed by Malhar Nilesh Patil, 21, an ABVP member. Police invoked sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 189(1) and 189(2) (unlawful assembly), 191(2) (rioting), and 351(1) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, as well as provisions of the Maharashtra Police Act.
The confrontation followed a dispute over comments by a female student concerning college-related issues and forcible registration for Gandhi’s programme.
According to the ABVP complaint, Congress and NSUI workers pressured female students to register for the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme and allegedly pressured one student to record a video statement. Patil and other ABVP members went to the hostel around 8:30 pm to speak to the students.
Patil alleged that when he and his associates reached the hostel, they were abused and assaulted by Pushkar Aabnave, Bhushan Ranbhire, Akshay Jain, Saurabh Amrale, Sagar Dhadve, Prathamesh Aavnave, and about 50 to 60 other NSUI and Youth Congress workers.
The confrontation escalated, prompting police to rush to the hostel premises and deploy additional personnel. Police used a mild lathi charge to disperse the groups after tensions escalated. Several students and political workers were reportedly injured in the melee.
{{/usCountry}}The confrontation escalated, prompting police to rush to the hostel premises and deploy additional personnel. Police used a mild lathi charge to disperse the groups after tensions escalated. Several students and political workers were reportedly injured in the melee.
{{/usCountry}}Congress leaders, however, claimed ABVP workers entered the hostel, threatened a female student, and tried to prevent her from speaking about their concerns and attending Rahul Gandhi’s programme.
Senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar, who visited the hostel after the incident, alleged that ABVP workers intimidated the student.
“It was the ABVP and BJP goons who carried out the attack, and yet our members have been booked. Police are acting based on orders from their masters,” he said.
NSUI workers claimed that a few university students planned to attend Gandhi’s interaction to raise the issue of scholarship benefits they said they were not receiving from the state government. They denied the ABVP allegation that any student was heckled.
“When ABVP cadres learned of this, they went to the university and told students not to attend Gandhi’s event. We also went there and protested against ABVP for trying to stop students from attending Gandhi’s event,” said city Congress youth president Akshay Jain.
Maharashtra Pradesh Youth Congress media department president Akshay Jain said, “The students had raised concerns over scholarship-related issues and had expressed support for the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ programme.”
Congress leader Satyajit (Bunti) Patil, Leader of the Congress group in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, along with Wadettiwar, former ministers Balasaheb Thorat and Vishwajeet Kadam, and Maharashtra Youth Congress president Shivraj More, later met injured Youth Congress workers Anand Dubey and Rihann Babudey and inquired about their health.
Atharva Kulkarni, ABVP state secretary, alleged that NSUI workers were pressuring university students to attend Gandhi’s programme, claiming that the organisers were struggling to get an audience. “Around 100-150 NSUI workers entered the COEP campus and heckled female students. Some of the students who tried to intervene were also targeted,” he alleged.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis labelled Friday’s clash at the COEP campus as a “pre-planned” gimmick staged by the Congress party to manufacture political outrage.
“The commotion and protests leading up to the event were orchestrated beforehand as a public relations setup rather than organic student expression,” said Fadnavis.
A girl student of COEP Technological University on Saturday appealed against being dragged into the political row. In a video she thanked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for asking to meet her but said she was not in the right state of mind to meet or speak to anyone and did not want to be involved in “any kind of politics”. The student, who belongs to the OBC orphan category, had apologised to the college, claiming she was pressured into alleging that students were being charged excess fees.
When contacted, Krushikesh Rawale, deputy commissioner of police (zone 1), was unavailable for comment.
The Congress programme is part of its nationwide ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ campaign, launched to highlight issues concerning students and the education system.