New Delhi: A handful of educational institutions have cracked down on students for posting objectionable messages about last week’s attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Pulwama that killed 40 personnel.
A day after a student of Aligarh Muslim University was suspended for the remarks he made, four Kashmiri girls studying at NIMS University in Jaipur were suspended Saturday for allegedly posting “anti-national” messages on their WhatsApp.
According to a university circular, the girls “celebrated the attack”.
“In respect of the severe terrorist attack on our security forces at Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir on February 14… You have posted antinational message on your WhatsApp for celebrating martyrs of Pulwama terror attack. NIMS University will not tolerate and strictly condemns such activities (sic),” said the circular issued by the registrar.
“Since the above act of theirs is grave and serious in nature, these students are hereby suspended with immediate effect from college and hostel.”
NIMS is a self-financed university based in Jaipur. All the students in question are pursuing bachelors’ degrees in science courses.
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Fear grips students in Dehradun
Elsewhere in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, two students were suspended and several others have been allegedly threatened to leave.
Two private colleges in Dehradun also took action against their students for posting allegedly objectionable comments on social media platforms.
A first-year student at a medical college, who wrote “Aj to real PUBG ho gaya” on social media, was first issued a show cause notice and later suspended by the college. The other student has been expelled by the engineering college he was studying at.
Another incident was reported from near the Dolphin (PG) Institute of Biomedical and Natural Sciences, where a group of locals allegedly chanted religious hate slogans.
At least 17 Kashmiri girls pursuing their master’s in science subjects live in the institute’s hostel. They are a part of around 3,000 Kashmiri students studying in colleges across Dehradun.
“We got so scared that we had to hide in the toilets and lock our rooms. They kept on saying ‘kick them out or we will kill them’,” a student at Dolphin Institute told ThePrint by phone.
Students also alleged that some Kashmiri students living in other hostels were thrown out and their belongings were set on fire. ThePrint could not independently verify this claim.
A video has surfaced where groups of locals are seen shouting slogans against Kashmiri students and threatening that if the college administration does not cancel their admission, they would burn the college. The identity of the college is not clear in the video.
The Uttarakhand Police said the claims were “rumours” and denied the incident took place.
“These are just rumours. Everything is normal. Kashmiri students are secure,” the SHO of Prem Nagar police station in Dehradun, Nagendra Gehlot, told ThePrint by phone.
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