Protests by outstation students over the assault by State police continued for the third consecutive day on Thursday at the Srinagar-based National Institute of Technology (NIT) even as the Jammu & Kashmir Government ordered a time-bound probe into the clashes that took place on the campus on last Friday and Tuesday. Two FIRs were also filed in this regard.
Jammu & Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh promised a time-bound enquiry into the matter and State police chief K Rajendra Kumar visited the campus to take stock of the situation.
The alleged police assault on non-Kashmiri students also led to a total bandh in Jammu region in response to a call given by various groups, including the Jammu & Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP). The Bar Association of Jammu (BAJ) also decided to suspend work in all the courts across the region.
Outstation students staged a protest march within the campus demanding shifting of the institute from Kashmir, besides action against policemen involved in baton-charge on them on Tuesday. The protesters, who included girl students, were chanting “Bharat Mata ki jai”. The agitating students have also accused some faculty members of harassment and demand their resignation so that “they do not play with any student’s career”.
“We have instituted an enquiry to go into the incidents at the NIT. We will resolve this issue at the earliest,” Nirmal Singh told reporters here. He said Additional District Magistrate of Srinagar will conduct the enquiry and submit his report within 15 days.
The HRD Ministry, which rushed a three-member team of officials to NIT a day earlier, said the students will have an option to appear for their examinations later. The examinations are beginning on April 11 and will be held on schedule.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani will also be visiting Srinagar on April 13 for a Consultative Committee meeting of Members of Parliament, but there is no clarity on whether she will go to the NIT campus.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi attacked the BJP-PDP Government in Jammu & Kashmir, accusing it of using “brute” force against NIT students in Srinagar.
While no one has been named in the two FIRs yet, police are investigating the video evidence of the violence that took place on last Friday and Tuesday. Police also released a video clipping showing non-Kashmiri students attacking the cops with stones and damaging property at the campus.
The video, shot on Tuesday when trouble restarted in the campus, shows a large number of non-Kashmiri students protesting against the NIT administration and trying to march towards the main gate of the campus. The students, some of them masked, are seen carrying iron rods and stones. Some of the students threw stones at Jammu & Kashmir Police and many buildings of the campus, resulting in damage to many window panes.