Days after Kashmiri students were thrashed at Desh Bhagat University, an FIR has been lodged against them including those who were assaulted.
Copy of FIR available with The Kashmiriyat states that more than 16 people have been booked under at least eight (8) sections of Indian penal Code. The FIR has been lodged at Police Station Almoh in Punjab vide the number 134/2023.
Sections 353 (assault to deter a public servant at duty) 186 (obstruction of Public servant),332 (hurt to a public servant), 427 (mischief), 323 (causing hut voluntarily), 283 (causes danger),148 (Rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly) have been invoked against at least sixteen persons, most of them from Jammu Kashmir.
The FIR has been registered over the complaint of one Arshdeep Singh on 14 September, 2023. 14 individuals have been named in the FIR, while two more accused remain unknown, as per the FIR copy.
Three out of the fourteen persons named in FIR are from outside Jammu Kashmir–one of them from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, two from Punjab.
On September 14, Several students of Desh Bhagat University in Punjab were assaulted over allegations of blocking the University gate during a protest.
Speaking to The Kashmiriyat, Sheema (name changed), a Kashmiri student said that they have been protesting for around three weeks after the University has illegaly transferred their admissions into another nursing college which lacks INC recognition.
Levelling serious allegations, Sheema said, when the students did not pay any heed to them, the Pro-Chancellor came and manhandled the students. “They tore our Abayas, some had bruises even police also did the same and 10 of our girls are at the hospital,” claimed Sheema.
Videos shared with The Kashmiriyat show some female students being dragged on the floor and Abaya of others torn down.