look news india
The administration has temporarily suspended mobile internet and data services to maintain law and order in and around sensitive areas of the sprawling campus of Lovely Professional University (LPU) at Phagwara in Punjab’s Kapurthala district. After unconfirmed news of alleged rape of a student inside the campus went viral on social media, thousands of students took to the streets, due to which the entire area became an arena of severe unrest and confrontation. In order to prevent the situation from worsening and to immediately curb the spread of misleading messages, the Home Department has taken this emergency step of internet shutdown.
Administrative and police officials have clarified that in the preliminary investigation, there has been no official confirmation of these sensational allegations of rape, nor has any written complaint been received from the victim or her family members. Despite this, the fabricated information spread by anti-social elements on various platforms of internet media violently agitated the crowd of thousands of students. The decision of internet blackout has been taken only to thwart the activities of mobilizing the youth through digital platforms and taking law into their own hands so that the network of rumors can be completely destroyed.
Taking immediate cognizance of this unexpected and serious incident in Phagwara, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has issued clear instructions to the state police force to take strictest legal action without any concessions against miscreants, rumor mongers and elements disturbing peace. The statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said that no one can be allowed to play with law and order or damage public property in the state. The Chief Minister ordered State Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav to personally reach the spot at the ground level, closely review the situation and directly monitor the investigation process.
Following the tough stance of the Chief Minister, Phagwara and surrounding areas have been turned into a heavy security cordon. According to Punjab Police’s Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Faiyaz Farooqui, more than 2,000 armed policemen and paramilitary forces have been deployed at sensitive fronts to tighten the security of the campus and the highway. Throughout the night, police officers took out a flag march and gave a strong message to anti-social elements. Even on Monday morning, heavy police force remained alert in the entire university campus and the main intersections of Phagwara, due to which the tense atmosphere seemed to be gradually returning towards peace and normalcy.
As the student movement took a violent form, the most serious crisis arose on the Delhi-Amritsar National Highway (NH-44), which is called the lifeline of North India. The angry students and protesters came out of the main gates of the university and took over the national highway and completely paralyzed the traffic. This massive blockade continued for more than 15 hours, resulting in kilometers long queues of trucks, buses and private vehicles on both sides of the road and thousands of commuters, patients and common citizens facing severe mental and physical trauma.
Seeing the gravity of the situation, Jalandhar Police Commissioner Satinder Singh and senior administrative officials held continuous talks with the protesting students and convinced them to step back. On the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, the police, after a lot of effort, removed the blockages from the highway and restored smooth traffic on both sides. The Police Commissioner officially confirmed that the traffic on the highway is now completely normal and the situation is completely peaceful and under control, however, as a precautionary measure, patrolling by armed police forces has been continued along the highway and around the university.
In view of the huge tension created on the campus, incidents of vandalism and arson, the Lovely Professional University management has made a major change in its entire academic calendar. The university administration has issued an official circular suspending all regular offline classes with immediate effect for the next 10 days from Monday. Along with this, the mid-term examinations currently being conducted have also been postponed till further orders. The university informed that the revised dates and new examination schedule of all the postponed examinations will be announced separately later.
The University management has given permission to those students who wish to return to their ancestral homes during this sensitive period, provided they obtain formal consent from their parents or guardians. As soon as this order was issued, on Monday morning a large number of Indian and foreign students were seen packing their suitcases and leaving for railway stations and bus stands. On the other hand, students who wish to stay in the hostels have been strictly instructed to remain confined to their rooms and to stay away from participating in any unauthorized gathering, protest or non-essential activities.
This entire fiasco started on Sunday morning when it was claimed in different groups of social media that some unknown outsider had entered inside the boundary wall of the campus and seriously sexually assaulted a student. As soon as this news came to light, students became angry over security arrangements and accountability and hundreds of students gathered in front of the administrative block and started demanding fair investigation and prompt action from the management.
But soon due to the presence of some anti-social and mischievous elements, this peaceful protest turned into violent vandalism. Video footage that went viral on social media showed some unruly faces breaking window panes of buildings, damaging concrete pots and setting fire to items kept on the road. An attempt was made to set some vehicles on fire. Police have now seized all these viral videos and CCTV footage of the campus so that the real miscreants who incited violence and arson can be technically identified and strict action can be taken against them under non-bailable sections.