New Delhi : Around 140 km apart, two university campuses in Punjab erupted on successive nights. Chitkara University near Rajpura witnessed unrest on September 25 and Lovely Professional University (LPU), southeast of Jalandhar (in Phagwara) saw violent protests on September 26 and 27. A ghost scare, and claims that two girls were missing or dead spread. At LPU, allegations of a hostel student’s rape and subsequent suicide claims circulated.
Ghost rumours had started circulating at Chitkara since Wednesday (September 23), before a large student protest and violence took place on Friday night. At LPU, students began gathering on Saturday night (September 26) with the protest escalating into violence and highway blockade in the early hours of Sunday, according to reports. Social-media posts and videos fuelled fears about the safety of girls staying in hostels at both universities.
More than 2,000 police personnel had been deployed at LPU, according to The Times of India. “Law and order has been fully maintained and restored,” ADGP M F Farooqui told ANI. LPU had suspended regular classes for 10 days from Monday and postponed mid-term examinations. Chitkara University suspended academic activities from Monday, until October 1, following the unrest. Regular classes are scheduled to resume on October 5.
The Chitkara scare began on September 23, Banur SHO Gursewak Singh told The Indian Express, when some girls allegedly played frightening sounds through a speaker inside the hostel. The warden checked the rooms but found nothing, he said. Another story followed. It was claimed that the hostel was haunted by a student who had died by suicide three years ago. That account was part of the rumour described by police.
At least two police vehicles were damaged. Properties on the campus was vandalised. A police officer was also allegedly manhandled. Claims that the girls’ hostel was haunted, were just rumours. Police said protesters couldn’t provide names, photographs, roll numbers or other identifying details of the supposedly missing girls, The Times of India reported. SHO Gursewak Singh said no student had been reported missing or harmed.
At LPU, students alleged that a worker from outside the campus had sexually assaulted a student in a girls’ hostel, according to Chandigarh-based newspaper, The Tribune. Their accounts varied over whether the alleged perpetrator was a painter, plumber or construction worker. The newspaper reported that some protesters also claimed the student had returned home and subsequently died by suicide. Those claims are unverified as of now.
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