Phagwara/Jalandhar:
Police have arrested three young men in connection with the vandalism at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Phagwara, near Jalandhar, last Sunday, after protests over a rumour that a student had been raped. The three men were produced in court on Thursday and remanded to three days of police custody. LPU founder-chancellor Ashok Mittal, a Rajya Sabha MP affiliated with the BJP, said the violence could be part of a “larger conspiracy to harm Punjab”.
Violence broke out on the private university campus after rumours spread among students via social media that a student had been raped. The rumours triggered protests that escalated into vandalism, arson and property damage, and a stretch of the Jalandhar-Phagwara highway was blocked. When asked for details, including the identity of the alleged victim, the location of the incident, or a formal written complaint, the protesters could not provide any information. “Outsiders” and “anti-social elements” have since been blamed for the violence.
Police personnel did not answer further questions from reporters after naming the three arrested persons as “Abhi, Kala and James Dahiya”.
Outside the court, the maternal uncle of one of the accused said his nephew had been missing for several days. He said he received a phone call on Thursday telling him his nephew had been brought to court. When he got there, he was told only that his nephew had been brought in “in some case”, he said.
‘Pakistan Continues To Disrupt Peace…’
LPU founder Ashok Mittal, who was elected on the AAP ticket but switched to the BJP earlier this year, said on Thursday, “A false rumour was spread in Punjab through a social media platform that a girl had been raped and had committed suicide, along with other such claims. What was the conspiracy behind it, how were the students instigated, and how did outside elements subsequently enter the situation and damage the entire university?”
“We know that Punjab is a border state and shares a border with Pakistan. Pakistan continues to disrupt peace within our nation in some way or another,” Mittal said. He added that the incident had become “a matter of security of the 3 crore people living in Punjab”.
“The question that arises is whether the conspiracy was formed outside Punjab or inside Punjab. It has to be investigated,” he said.
He linked the incident to a similar episode at another private institution in Punjab, Chitkara University in Rajpura. “A day earlier, something happened at Chitkara University on Friday-Saturday night, and then it happened at LPU on Saturday-Sunday night. So, it is clear that there is a similar pattern and the same Reddit platform was used. The same medium was used at both places, and similar things were said. There too, it was said that two girls had committed suicide and all such things.”
“I am afraid that what happened may not be against LPU alone, and may not be against Ashok Mittal alone. This conspiracy may be against my Punjab. This is a conspiracy to disturb and destabilise my Punjab,” he said.
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“Punjab is reeling with addiction, gangsters, stealing, kidnapping of young kids, and add to that these kinds of incidents,” Mittal, who has interests across sectors ranging from food, car sales and education, said businessmen in Punjab are feeling “very unsafe”. He said LPU had a security system with face readers for students entering the campus and automated boom barriers for vehicles. “All these systems, security and everything are in place. Despite all this, if such an incident happened there, then how safe are we? This is a question in the heart of every Punjabi today, and in the heart of every person in business today,” he said.
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Earlier, Mittal had described the violence as an attack on Punjab’s economy. “When outside students enrol here, it boosts the state’s revenue. This is an attempt to dismantle that economic contribution to Punjab,” he said.
(with IANS inputs)
