A 19-year-old Muslim student of a university in Maharashtra’s Pune city has been allegedly beaten up by five unidentified persons who accused him of engaging in “love jihad”, police said on Tuesday.
The victim said he was walking on the campus after lunch with a group of friends when they were allegedly accosted by a group of people who began interrogating them about their names, whereabouts and asked them to show their Aadhaar cards.
The incident took place on Sunday afternoon when the male student was accompanying two female students on the campus of the state-run Savitribai Phule Pune University, an official from Chatushringi police station said.
The police have registered a case against unidentified persons and are trying to identify the culprits, he said.
The university authorities said they have set up a committee for a probe into the incident.
‘Love jihad’ is a term used by right-wing activists and outfits to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam through marriage.
The male student, along with the two female friends, was returning after having a meal when four-five unidentified persons on motorbikes approached them on the university campus, the official said.
The complainant is a student of a skill development course in the university, he added.
The university’s registrar, Vijay Khare, said they have formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the incident and asked security personnel deployed in the institution to ensure such incidents of students being threatened by anti-social elements do not recur. ( With Agencies Inputs )