BHU students injured, vehicles set on fire in violent clash

“Around 7 pm, the youth Shivji misbehaved with some of the junior doctors, following which he was allegedly manhandled by some of the doctors and then handed over to the police. Around two hours later a woman, who was with the youth called some of the law faculty students known to the youth. The students, reportedly from the Birla and Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) hostel beat up some of the doctors. After that, around 11 pm MBBS doctors jammed the main gate and sat on a protest. Police force was deployed.” said Varanasi SSP Sureshrao A Kulkarni.

“When some of the Birla hostel students wanted to go outside the campus at late night, they reached near the gate but were not allowed to go by the protesting doctors. The two groups – with students from Birla and LBS from one side and Doctors from Lohia and Dhanvantari hostel on the other — then joined the argument. The argument soon elevated into a violent clash. Stones were pelted from both the sides. Both the groups damaged around three to four motorcycles and set them on fire. Around half a dozen from both the sides were left injured. The number of injured might be more as the injured students are going to private hospitals and not the university one,” SSP said.

“A number of allegations have been made from both the sides and we are looking into them. It was alleged by some of the students that two students from Birla were held hostage by the MBBS doctors. The doctors have alleged that one of the fellow doctor was left injured in the student’s hostel,” he added.

The official further said that the clash that started late Monday night went on till around 2-3 am on Tuesday. Following the skirmish, heavy police force was deployed in and around the university campus. The District Magistrate and the SSP took out a flag march in the affected area. Police officials are inspecting the CCTV footage of the whole incident and are trying to identify those involved. The matter is presently reported to be under control.