Aligarh Muslim University on Sunday witnessed protests by Kashmiri students after a Kashmiri PhD scholar was allegedly beaten up by a student group.
The incident happened at around 1 am on Sunday when the Kashmiri scholar requested a few students, who were juniors and playing badminton to stop as it was causing a nuisance.
This did not go down well with the badminton playing group which started hurling abuses and allegedly thrashed the Kashmiri student.
Two teams each from the proctor’s office and police administration immediately reached the spot and pacified the agitating students after assuring them of a meeting with the district magistrate to solve their grievances.
Sartaj Hafeez, an AMU student from Kashmir said, “The increasing number of attacks on students from Kashmir are ignored.No action is being taken. We are demanding that there should be an inquiry into the attacks that have taken place and strict action should be taken against the culprits. The culture of fighting should also end.”
The Aligarh police tweeted about the incident claiming that the law and order situation inside the campus is normal.
“It has been said that a mutual case/dispute started between the students for playing badminton, which has been taken into cognizance by the university administration and the case is being attended by the proctorial team, the law and order situation is normal on the spot,” the police tweeted.
Additional City Magistrate (II) Sudhir Kumar, who reached the spot with police personnel, said, “These students have given a memorandum regarding their demands and have also sought time to meet the District Magistrate tomorrow. Tomorrow (December 27) a group of 5 Kashmiri students will hold talks with the District Magistrate.”
Meanwhile, the J&K Students Association said that this is not the first time Kashmiris are being targeted. In a series of tweets, it said that three Kashmiri students were beaten with severe injuries in a month.
Tagging the Uttar Pradesh chief minister’s office and Union Home Minister Amir Shah, the association asked to sensitize the matter and ensure such incidents do not reoccur.
Earlier on December 10, the disappearance of Masroor Abbas Mir, a Kashmiri class 10 student of Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh Aligarh Muslim University City School at Aligarh created a stir on campus.
Superintendent of Police (SP) City of Aligarh, Kuldeep Singh Gunawat, had then said, “Masroor Abbas Mir left home on December 8. His cousin brother registered a missing complaint”, adding, “Upon investigation, the information of cash withdrawal by the missing student from the Ramghat Road ATM has been confirmed.”
(with inputs from ANI)
