HC raps police, political parties for LU violence
Why police force on the campus failed to prevent violence?
LUCKNOW : The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Friday pulled up the police for its inability to check violence that broke out at the University of Lucknow (LU) on July 4 and also criticised political parties for supporting students who indulge in such activities on the campus. Meanwhile, the university’s new academic session will begin from July 10 (Tuesday), as per the directives of the UP higher education department.
LUCKNOW: The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Friday pulled up the police for its inability to check violence that broke out at the University of Lucknow (LU) on July 4 and also criticised political parties for supporting students who indulge in such activities on the campus.
The division bench of justice Vikram Nath and justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan not only expressed concern over the violence but also questioned the ability of the police to provide security on the campus.
LU proctor Vinod Singh and others had suffered injuries on Wednesday when a group of about 25 people – mostly students expelled from the institution – pelted them with stones on the campus.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the incident, the high court had on Thursday summoned Uttar Pradesh director general of police OP Singh, Lucknow SSP Deepak Kumar, LU vicechancellor Prof SP Singh, proctor Vinod Singh and registrar SK Shukla.
The court asked the senior superintendent of police why the police force on the campus failed to prevent violence and what action had been taken against the personnel who did not discharge their duty.
It also asked the SSP about the steps being taken to arrest the people involved in the attack on teachers.
The court questioned the DGP about the police failure that led to such an incident.
On behalf of the university, proctor Vinod Singh and vicechancellor SP Singh informed the court about the sequence of events that led to violence on the campus.
In an oral observation after hearing all the parties, justice Vikram Nath criticised political parties, by taking their names, for extending support to such rowdy elements at the university.
The court also observed that such incidents were being reported from universities all across the state.
When chief standing counsel Ramesh Chandra Pandey, who was representing the state government, pointed out that violence at the university was politically motivated, justice Nath asked him to come on record and name the parties.
The court took a serious note of the issue when the chief standing counsel claimed that former vice-chancellor of University of Lucknow Prof Roop Rekha Verma had also extended support to agitating students.
Additional advocate general VK Shahi was also present on behalf of the state government.
The court also directed chief secretary Anup Chandra Pandey to constitute a committee and develop a mechanism to ensure security at higher educational institutions run by the government.
The court also made principal secretary (home) and principal secretary (higher education), UP government, party to the case.
Fixing July 16 as the next date of hearing, the court directed DGP OP Singh and SSP Deepak Kumar to file separate affidavits and inform the court about the steps being taken to apprehend those involved in the incident.
The court also directed the LU vice-chancellor and proctor to file separate affidavits giving details of the case and the preventive measures required to check such incidents on campus in future.
The court exempted the director general of police and the University of Lucknow vicechancellor from personal appearance in future proceedings of the case.