Five arrests, lingering unease, and unanswered questions after attack at Gujarat University
At 10.30 p.m. on March 16, Chisomo Tolani — a national of Africa’s Malawi currently pursuing his PhD in computer science at Gujarat University — was studying in his room in Block A of the university’s hostel when he received a frantic call from his friend asking him to come out. As soon as he put down the phone, he heard screams and other loud noises coming from outside. Worried, he and several others from adjoining rooms rushed out to see what had caused the ruckus on the usually peaceful campus, located in Ahmedabad’s Navarangpura neighbourhood.
“We saw some people brandishing sticks and beating our friends. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but they were shouting and creating a commotion. Within no time, they entered several of our rooms and began vandalising our belongings. It was extremely frightening,” he says, describing the violent attack carried out by a mob of 20 to 25 people at Block A, which houses around 75 of the university’s foreign students. All of them, belonging to different nationalities, reside in the threestorey building with about 50 rooms.
In total, 300 international students study at Gujarat University under the scholarship offered by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, of which 200 stay at the hostel.
“The mob had gathered to attack our Muslim friends, who were offering Ramzan prayers at night at the place they usually pray during the holy month,” Tolani says, adding that the episode was a “traumatic event” for all foreign students at the university.
“It was a very scary night for us. We had to call our international office for help,” says Mithun Chandromohonto, a student from Bangladesh.
The March 16 attack left five students residing in Block A injured. Two of them — nationals of Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka — had to be hospitalised. Of the three who sustained minor injuries, two were from African nations, while one was from Afghanistan.
Police action
However, Tolani points out that the policemen who reached the spot did not take immediate action. “What was very shocking to my friends and I is that the police did not start catching people from the mob the moment they reached. The people who had attacked our friends were moving around freely in the presence of the police. A few of them even left on their motorbikes.”
On Sunday, the morning following the incident, a slew of videos of the mob attack began circulating on social media. One viral clip in particular showed a few members wearing saffron scarves and raising religious slogans while attacking the students and pelting stones.
That morning, Ahmedabad Police Commissioner G.S. Malik and Gujarat University ViceChancellor Dr. Neerja Gupta visited the hostel and met the students. The senior police official told the press that he had taken “serious note of the incident” and promised “strict action”.
After the news of the assault made national headlines, the police registered a case under sections of the Indian Penal Code relating to unlawful assembly, rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, and criminal trespass. The case has been handed over to the Crime Branch.
So far, only five arrests have been made — Hitesh Mewada, Bharat Patel, Kshitij Pandey, Jitendra Patel, and Sahil Dudhtiuva. All are outsiders, and, with the exception of Pandey, residents of Ahmedabad. Pandey is a resident of Gandhidham and works in Ahmedabad.
In the FIR lodged by the police, none of the arrested persons have been identified as being associated with any rightwing outfit.
Simmering tensions
After the arrests and the interrogation of several students from the hostel’s Block B, it emerged that frictions between the foreign and local students had been developing for some time.
“There had been some altercations between foreign students and some locals ever since the Muslim students began praying in the hostel. It’s possible some local students sought the help of outsiders to plan an attack,” a police official involved with the probe says.
The police are also examining other possible triggers, like the consumption of nonvegetarian food, which was allegedly another matter of contention between the locals and foreigners. The foreign students have, however, rejected this theory, and hold that the offering of namaz was the only trigger.
“I have been here for more than two years. The food was not the trigger,” Tolani says.
“Those who were praying got angry and started arguing back with the locals,” says Tahamina, a Bangladeshi student.
Damage control
After the violence, university authorities removed the coordinator of the Study Abroad Programme, and within three days, all foreign students were shifted to a new hostel block equipped with roundtheclock security.
“Besides the police probe, we have launched our own internal investigation into the matter,” the ViceChancellor says.
Officials from the Union Ministry of External Affairs also dialled top officials in
Gandhinagar over the international ramifications of the incident, and demanded swift police action.
“This episode has tarnished our image, and we have to work to ensure that it is never repeated. We have never even had a minor scuffle on the campus since 2005. Even during the COVID19induced lockdown, there were almost 400 foreign students here, and during Ramzan, the varsity made special arrangements to deliver fruit to the Muslim students at 4 a.m. in the morning,” the ViceChancellor says.
The police, however, are still tightlipped. “We cannot divulge any details at this stage,” a senior officer tells The Hindu.
But some students still dwell on the alleged inactivity on the part of the police when the violence unfolded. “It’s a puzzle for us as to why the policemen initially behaved like mute spectators when the mob went on the rampage,” says Tolani, falling silent when asked if he thinks a police probe will unveil the truth and deliver justice.