Students fought a pitched battle with police on Saturday night in which several students, including girls, and media persons were injured prompting Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to order a probe and the all the colleges and centers of higher education in city have been closed on Monday.
The students were protesting against increased incidents of eve teasing. On Saturday night the irate students came out on streets started pelting stones and set many vehicles on fire. The police resorted to lathi charge in which several girl students and media persons were injured.
The BHU administration issued a statement saying that protest of the students was “politically motivated” to malign the image of the university. The university also said that security guards were regularly patrolling the campus and assistance from the police is sought from time-to-time to maintain peace in the campus.
“Majority of the people who were indulged in violence were outsiders and not the bonafide students of the university,” BHU spokemsman said in his statement on Sunday. “These were the anti-national elements who were out to malign BHU’s image,” it said.
The tremors of the university were felt in state capital where a section of journalists staged protest outside CM’s residence demanding action against DM and SSP for ordering lathicharge in which a few media persons were injured.
CM Yogi Adityanath has ordered a probe and has asked Commission Nitin Gokaran to submit the same to the government at the earliest.
The protests in BHU started about four days ago in protest against an incident of eve teasing. What triggered the violence was an incident in which a woman student of Arts faculty alleged harassment by three men on a motorcycle inside the campus while she was returning to her hostel.
Reports say three men abused her and fled when she resisted their attempts. The woman alleged that security guards, about 100 metres from where the incident happened, did nothing to stop the men. She said in he complaint that her warden, instead of taking up the issue with her superiors, asked her why was she was returning late to the hostel.
The warden’s response angered the student’s colleagues, who sat on a ‘dharna’ at the main gate midnight Thursday. One of the students even got her head tonsured. Police and BHU professors tried to pacify the students but they refused to end their protest and sought assurance from the university vice chancellor.
In view of the tense situation district magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra and SSP RK Bhardwaj held a meeting with university officers to evaluate the situation on Sunday. The DM has ordered for closer of all the universities including the higher educational institutions in the city on Monday.
Meanwhile, in BHU the students took out a Silent March demanding action against the guilty district and university officers. They got support from senior professors and doctors who also took out a march from Malviya Bhawan to the statue of Malviyaji appealing to all to maintain peace on the campus.