LPU protest erupts into violence as protesting students reject police probe into ‘rape’ case

For second time in less than 24 hours, hundreds of youths vandalised vehicles, buildings and other properties. But, students blamed outsiders for violence and arson.

Smoke billows from a fire during a protest by students at the Lovely Professional University (LPU) campus, in Phagwara, Punjab, early Sunday. Students went on a rampage on the campus, damaging property and blocking a national highway over claims that an outsider raped a female student on the university premises | PTI

Chandigarh: The ongoing student protest at the Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Phagwara turned violent Sunday evening with the protesting students resorting to pelting stones and bricks and the police lathi charging them.

Injuries to both the police and the students were reported and multiple vehicles, including police jeeps, were burnt. A part of the building of the university was also set on fire. At least five students had been detained and a sharp edged weapon recovered from them, according to news agency ANI.

Regular classes have been suspended for 10 days from 28 September, and the mid-term examinations also postponed by the university, which is owned by AAP-turned-BJP turncoat Ashok Mittal. The students living in the hostel has been advised to go back home.

Hundreds of students have been out on the Jalandhar-Amritsar national highway since the wee hours of the intervening Saturday-Sunday night, demanding justice in an alleged rape of a girl resident in one of the hostels within the campus.

Despite multiple rounds of talks with the police and the university administration throughout the day and the registration of an FIR against unknown persons, the students refused to withdraw their protest. According to the students, the police and the university administration are trying to brush the entire episode under the carpet and refusing to share the details of the incident with them.

For the second time in less than 24 hours, hundreds of youth, many with their faces covered, used lathis to vandalise vehicles and the buildings and other property in and around the university. Journalists and drivers of the vehicles waiting on both sides of the blocked road reported that their vehicles too had been vandalised by the youth who seemed to be completely out of control.

Several student protesters, however, told the media that outsiders with their faces covered carrying lathis, hockey sticks, bricks and stones had managed to become a part of the protest and were indulging in violence and arson.

The university administration, through social media posts, too maintained that the “protest” has been the result of a pre-planned conspiracy to defame the university.

DIG, Jalandhar Range, Naveen Singla told media persons that additional forces had been called to the spot to control the students again gathering inside and outside the university complex.

The situation was brought under control at around 11 pm Sunday after the police reinforcements arrived and the protesting students were forced to enter the LPU campus and the gates were secured by the police.

After the traffic was resumed on the national highway, senior police officers led by commissioner of police Jalandhar Satinder Singh and student representatives marched through the university to ensure that no outsiders or hooligans had entered the university or the hostels. Later, Singh told the media that the situation was completely under control.

#WATCH | Phagwara, Punjab | On students holding a protest at Lovely Professional University (LPU), Jalandhar Police Commissioner Satinder Singh says, "First of all, reports of disturbances in the hostels were merely rumors. All hostels have been checked, and there are no issues.… pic.twitter.com/UNNY6teotz

— ANI (@ANI) September 27, 2026

A joint action committee of the students was announced to interact with the management and the police for the fulfilment of the demands of the students.

During the day, Singla told the media that the primary grievance was regarding the alleged rape of a female student three days ago. He said an FIR had been lodged and a special investigation team (SIT) was formed to investigate the allegations.

Apart from the statements of the girls living in the rooms, he said, the police were combing through the CCTV footage to piece together clues about the alleged incident.

He said that the protesting students had highlighted some administrative issues for which the police were facilitating a meeting between the student representatives and the university administration. These demands related to enhancing the security in the girls hostel and deployment of only female staff in the girls hostel. He said that according to the students, male workers were allowed to enter the girls hostel without any member of the staff accompanying them.

SM message & mayhem

According to the police, a message was spread on the social media that a girl living in the hostel had been raped by an electrician and the university administration had send her back home where she died the next day.

At around 2am Sunday, hundreds of students emerged from hostels raising slogans, ‘We want justice’, and reached the main gate of the university. Students living in nearby private residences also assembled at the university’s main gate demanding justice.

Students sat on a dharna on the national highway outside the University gate blocking the traffic. They pointed out that the university never allowed any such incident to come to the fore. Two cases of suicide had been reported but they had been hushed up, they alleged.

As hundreds of students gathered near the gate and on the highway, some of them turned violent and went on a rampage in the campus, damaging the buildings, attendance counters, sign boards, security kiosks and ATMs. Parked motorcycles, cycles and other property were set on fire. One of the protesting students even climbed the iconic IAF fighter and others the army tanks installed near the gates.

Student leaders told the police during the day that they had not indulged in any rioting and were carrying out a peaceful protest. They claimed that the violence and the rioting was the handiwork of outsiders who had managed to enter the campus once the main gates were open.

According to the police, following the meeting with the administration and the registration of the FIR the student representatives had agreed to persuade the protesting students from vacating the highway and calling off the protest. The police also cautioned the students that the wrong kind of element might become a part of the protest and things would then go out of everyone’s control.

However in the evening, even as the student leaders announced to the protesting crowd that they were satisfied that the police were carrying out a thorough investigation and the CCTV footage had shown that no such incident took place, the crowd refused to buy the argument and became extremely agitated. They booed the leaders and alleged that they had been “bought over” by the police and administration.

This led to the situation becoming tense again. Suddenly loud blasts were heard and the police saw its vehicles burning on the main road. Stones and bricks were thrown towards the police which was caught unaware. The stones left several policemen injured after which the students as a huge mob started running behind the policeman, who rushed to save themselves.

(Edited by Tony Rai)