BHU tense, Dussehra break advanced amid blame game
VARANASI: A day after arson and violence at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), the campus remained calm but tense amid presence of heavy police force on Sunday. The Saturday violence left many students, including girls, injured. The violence erupted after police allegedly used force to remove protesters from outside the vice-chancellor’s residence and one of the campus gates, sources said.
The students had been protesting since three days against alleged molestation of a university student and the failure of the administration to act against the attackers.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav took a dig at the government over the incident.
Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s radio address ‘Mann Ki Baat’ a “one-sided exercise”, Congress spokesperson Ajoy Kumar said he should have spoken on police lathicharge on BHU girl students.
Senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, too, denounced the alleged police action against the BHU students.
However, vice chancellor Prof GC Tripathi blamed outsiders, including girl students associated with a particular organisation from Delhi University and Allahabad University, for the violence and constituted a committee to probe the incident. He said that BHU had filed a police case against two unidentified men for allegedly eve teasing the girl when she was on way back to hostel.
In the clash, which forced BHU to advance its Dussehra break from September 28 to September 25, several vehicles were torched and stones thrown at the police.
“A lot of students were brought to BHU’ s trauma centre. The situation is tense but there were no major injuries,” a hospital official told HT on condition of anonymity.
Several students, including many girls, sustained injuries in cane charge, a girl student told HT, pleading anonymity.
District magistrate (DM) Yogeshwar Ram Mishra said strict action would be ensured against the elements involved in the incident. He said protestors used petrol bombs and indulged in heavy stone pelting.
The students, however, said police thrashed them and pulled them by the hair but Mishra, who was present on the spot, denied the claims.
SSPRK Bhardwaj said seven policemen, including SP city Dinesh Singh, were also injured in stone pelting during the violence. A case has been registered in this connection against the protestors and further investigation is on, hesaid.
Bhardwaj said a case had also been registered against ‘bhubuzz’ (facebook page) for posting inflammatory pictures, claiming them to be of incident at BHU, “though the pictures had no connection with the incident.”
Rahul Gandhi took on the Yogi Adityanath government over the police crackdown. “BJP version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in BHU,” he tweeted on Sunday, sharing a BBC report of injured girl students.
Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (save and educate the daughter) is the NDA government’s flagship plan to educate girls and prevent female infanticide.
Akhilesh Yadav criticised police action. “The government should find a solution through talks and not force,” he tweeted.
The crackdown on students came after they intensified their protest within few hours of PM Narendra Modi ending his two-day visit to Varanasi.
“Anti-social elements, along with girls who were not university students, gathered outside the vice-chancellor’s residence in the night,” BHU public relations officer Rajesh Singh said. The protesters were asked to leave as they didn’t have the permission for the sit-in but they refused and started abusing the V-C, he said.
“I have no idea how those sitting on dharna sustained injuries. Some anti-social elements had tried to break the gate of Mahila Mahavidyalaya on the premises,” Singh added.