Four college students in UP’s Ballia allege being beaten up for chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’

In his complaint to the police, Anuj Narayan, one of the four students of the Gandhi Mohammad Ali Memorial Inter College in Ballia who were attacked, said the assailants were fellow students who had been instigated by college authorities.

Four students of a college in Ballia, about 120 km northeast of Varanasi, claimed they were beaten up by other students on Monday at the behest of the institution’s authorities for complaining that they were not allowed to sing ‘Vande Matram’ and chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ in the institute, police said.

Police in UP’s Ballia filed a case following a complaint by four students of an inter-college that they were beaten up by fellow students for chanting ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. (HT File / Representative Photo)

In his complaint to the police, Anuj Narayan, one of the four students of the Gandhi Mohammad Ali Memorial Inter College who were attacked, said the assailants were fellow students who had been instigated by college authorities.

The college and the inspector of schools have denied that the incident took place.

Trouble began on Friday when some outsiders, said to be from a right wing organisation, visited the institution and asked if the college objects to slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’. According to the police, Anuj told these persons that action is taken if students chant ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.

Anuj also alleged that enraged by his statement, the college administration instigated a few students who beat him up and his friends Rajat Kumar Sonu, Navnit Kumar and Abhishek outside the institution’s gate.

“Further investigation is on. Police force has been deployed in the town as a preventive measure, though the situation is completely normal,” he said.

Some of the students had also lodged a complaint with the district inspector of schools Narendra Dev last week, who blamed outsiders for trying to create trouble.

“I carried out a probe and spoke to over a dozen students. No student confirmed any such happening. Some outsiders tried to flare up the matter out of nothing,” he said.

The inspector sent a report to the district magistrate on Monday,

Dev also quoted the institute’s principal Majid Nasir saying, “No such thing ever occurred in the college. Allegation that action was taken against the student on chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai is false.”