A day after the prestigious Himachal Pradesh University witnessed bloody clashes between two student unions, that seriously injured over two dozen students, a high-level inquiry committee constituted by the vice-chancellor started its probe on Tuesday.
The inquiry committee headed by Dean of Studies, Suresh Kumar has sought complaints from students, student union organisation, teachers and other staff members within three days regarding the violence. After this, a thorough investigation will be held to identify the miscreants.
Members of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Student Federation of India (SFI) attacked each other with swords and iron rods during the clash on Monday.
Police had booked over two dozen students, mostly from SFI, for resorting to violence while university dissolved the Central Student Association (SCA) — student union body and sealed the offices.
Vice chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University ADN Bajpai, criticised the violence in the high-level meeting held in the campus and took stock of the law and order situation. Many police personnel were deployed in the campus to thwart any untoward incident amid the present uneasy calm.
“There is urgent need to maintain the academic atmosphere in the campus and students should refrain from indulging in any kind of violence or university will be forced to take stern action against them,” said Bajpai.
“I think time has come when student union politics should be de-politicised and if there is any more incident of violence in the university campus or any other affiliated college, then the student union polls will be banned completely,” added Bajpai.
Sources said that the university is looking into the files of students who indulged in the violence on Monday and is scanning the track records. If anyone is found to be a repetitive violator of rules, his degrees will be held and he or she might be expelled too.
Meanwhile, State Congress president Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, who himself has a history of being involved in student politics, condemned the violence in the campus and said that this act was unwarranted, and asked NSUI to refrain from any such behavior or disciplinary action is possible.
“Some opportunist political parties instigated the violence to gain cheap mileage over an issue which had cost the university its academic atmosphere. I urge university administration to take stern action against such nuisance makers,” said Sukhu adding that student union polls should be banned.
BJP state president Satpal Singh Satti who was also involved with ABVP condemned the violence in strong terms and said that educational institutions are temple of learning and anyone trying to spoil such an atmosphere should be dealt strictly. He also advocated for banning of student union polls in university.
Violence in the HPU campus is nothing new and has often seen bloody clashes among students union in the campus. Monday’s violence comes barely a fortnight before President Pranab Mukherjee's visit to the university for its convocation ceremony on May 24th.