The incident at Desh Bhagat University has taken a new turn after the Police registered a new FIR against the university officials and said that the FIR against students including Kashmiris would be withdrawn.
In a statement, Punjab Police said that after taking all the facts and the order of the events into consideration, the Police is likely to withdraw the FIR registered against students.
An FIR has been registered against the University at Police Station Amloh under the number 135/ 2023. A copy of the FIR accessed by The Kashmiriyat stated that charges have been filed under the sections 420, 406, 354 B, 323, 341, 427, 506, 148 and section 149 of the Indian Penal Code.
The FIR has been registered against 16 persons including the Chancellor of the University and several faculty members.
Hundreds of Sikhs activists and leaders from Punjab have been meeting the Kashmiri students to express their solidarity with the students. They have also been demanding that the Police lodge an FIR against the University.
Pertinently, on September 14, Several students of Desh Bhagat University in Punjab were assaulted over allegations of blocking the University gate during a protest. peaking 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.
On Saturday, it came to the fore that an FIR has been lodged against them including those who were assaulted. Copy of FIR available with The Kashmiriyat stated 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.