Cracking the whip after its Vice Chancellor and other officials were manhandled by protesting students, the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gorakhpur University has expelled 18 students and banned six outsiders from entering the campus.
All those who faced action are members of the RSS’ student wing, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), and were part of the protest against the fee hike and other issues that turned violent on July 21.
The university’s chief proctor, Satyapal Singh, said on Sunday that the decision was taken a day earlier following reports from the Dean of Students Welfare and a judicial inquiry that had been set up to look into the incident. “The expelled students won’t be able to give examinations, and they also won’t get entry into the campus and the hostels of the varsity,” he said on Sunday.
On July 21, as the students protested on issues like the fee hike, irregular examination schedule, problems faced by research scholars, and hostel allotment, Vice Chancellor Rajesh Singh and other officials came out of their office and tried to speak to the students. But the situation took an ugly turn, with some students allegedly attacking the VC and the other officials and vandalising his office. A video clip of the incident was also shared on social media.
Saurabh Gaur, ABVP’s Goraksh Prant secretary, condemned the university’s action, alleging it was an attempt to snatch the right to education from the students and was not justified at all. The problems of students cannot be resolved with the expulsion of the members of ABVP, he said, adding that the protest against the fee hike and the action against students will continue.
Gorakhpur police lodged an FIR against 22 people on July 22 in connection with the incident.
It arrested eight accused for damaging public property at the VC office and beating the DDU Gorakhpur University VC and teachers on July 21. The FIR was lodged on the written complaint of the proctor of the university, Satyapal Singh. The arrested accused have secured bail.
