TNI Bureau: Tension prevailed at Rama Devi women’s University on Tuesday as a political poster dispute escalated into a major fight, sparking widespread anxiety regarding student safety on the all women campus.
Reportedly, the aggravated students staged a protest over the alleged entry of outsiders into the campus and locked all the university gates demanding a strict safety measure to prevent unauthorised person entering the campus and drew police intervention.
Tension erupted when the University Vice Chancellor Jyotsna K B Rout directed members of the Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) and Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to remove posters put up near the main gate to welcome newly admitted students and recruit members.
According to Laxmipriya Biswal, a BCJD member and third-year student, her group obeyed with the directive and took the posters out, but ABVP members allegedly refused to do so which sparked an argument. Biswal claimed that ABVP member Roshni Jena misbehaved with her during the clash.
On the other hand, Jena denied the allegations stating that, Biswal was not a student of the University and alleged that Biswal assaulted her in the presence of Deputy Registrar Dilip Bisi. Amidst the on going dispute, Jena called her male local guardian for support. Those male supporters entered the campus and went to the VC’ s office to complain about the matter.
“After the confrontation with Laxmipriya, I went to the VC’s office but I was not allowed to enter. Then I called my ABVP colleagues, some of whom are also my local guardians,” Jena told the media. Later the other student group also approached the Vice-Chancellor with their complaints.
According to the VC, the two students had mutually agreed to resolve the banner issue. However, about half an hour after our office opened, a group of 12 outsiders forcibly opened the security gate and rode their bikes inside the campus, shouting loudly in the corridors. The VC and another assistant professor attempted to solve the matter calmly but those intruders used highly objectionable language. Where the two students agreed to solve the issue mutually, the intruder group started demanding justice and staged a protest.
Following which the police were called to manage the situation. The Saheed Nagar police confirmed that no formal complaint was lodged by either side. Cops were also deployed on campus as a precautionary measure to prevent further escalation.
