Students assault BHU professor on campus, 2 FIRs lodged

VARANASI: Benaras Hindu University (BHU) campus erupted on Monday after an assistant professor in the department of sociology was assaulted by a group of students over alleged objectionable comments on social media against women students. Prof Manoj Verma, who was thrashed while he was entering the classroom, was rushed to BHU trauma centre and the varsity administration swiftly went into firefighting mode and summoned an emergency meeting.While assistant professor Verma was booked by Lanka police for criminal intimidation, stalking and intent to outrage modesty, he filed a counter FIR against students for assault, criminal conspiracy and sections of SC/ST Act.
Lanka police inspector Bharat Bhushan said, "After receiving complaints from both sides, we lodged two FIRs. An FIR was registered against a student, Anant Narayan Mishra, and 10 other students and on a complaint from girl students, Verma has also been booked." Earlier, Verma submitted a complaint to the chief proctor's office against a group of students for allegedly beating him at behest of a senior faculty member. A group of girl students lodged a parallel complaint, accusing the assistant professor of passing vulgar remarks against them.
BHU chief proctor Prof Royana Singh said, "We received complaints from Verma and a group of 80 girls and this was sent to Lanka police before counter FIRs were registered. We have also set up a probe panel."
Sources in BHU claimed Verma allegedly posted a photograph of a girl student with a senior faculty member of the department on social media and made objectionable remarks. However, he later deleted it.
In September 2017, BHU was rocked by violence after a girl student was harassed on the campus and students staged dharna at the main gate after the departure of PM Narendra Modi.