This first person account was sent to us by a student of IIT BHU. If you were present there, add on to the story by telling us what you saw in the comment section below.
In what can be only termed as a brazen display of hooliganism, IIT BHU students were beaten up, pelted with stones and attacked with petrol bombs by students of Law Faculty-BHU. Last night, a riot was triggered by the mismanagement and incompetence of the IIT BHU proctors. Initially, there was a minor scuffle when some IIT BHU students were denied the right to play cricket on their own ground. As the situation got tense, the IIT BHU proctors were called to the scene to calm the agitated crowd. But what can only be seen as a shameful reality of the inadequate security that the IIT-BHU students are provided with, they were threatened with dire consequences and ultimately beaten mercilessly with stumps and bats, while the proctors stood as “silent guardians”, allowing the hooligans to continue with this barbaric act. All this happened in front of around two dozen officials who kept their hands and tongue tied.
Seeing our batch mates bleed profusely, the IIT students retaliated and ran behind the perpetrators to catch them. But by then, they had reached the safety of their hostel and started pelting stones. When the IIT students advanced forward, petrol bombs were hurled at them. Then it turned into a standoff, with both sides hurling stones at each other. The IIT students were always on the backfoot as petrol bombs were being hurled on them continuously. Standing there in the dark with bleeding heads and burns on our bodies, we alone took on the fight with no support from the BHU administration or the police. After nearly four hours, the police came to intervene but by then the students of IIT had suffered massive casualties.
But this was not the end of the story, reports started coming that our friends were being picked up and attacked at various places inside the campus. At 10.30 PM, when more than 2000 students gathered at that very place to demand for immediate action, lathicharge was inflicted upon them with severe brutality. They chased the students inside the hostels, delivering blows after blows. At around midnight, 400 students from one of the hostels were evacuated and thrown out of the campus with no regard for their safety when there was every possibility of retaliation on these students as they spent a sleepless night on the streets.
This was not a stray incident, girls are being groped in daylight and students picked up and thrashed inside the campus, events like these have happened in the past but now the frequency is increasing. Only last year, three students from IIT-BHU were attacked and abducted, for which a huge protest was held. But the hypocrisy of the promises made by the administration can be seen clearly. There has been no barricading, no checking of IDs, and lack of police personnel; instead they are forced to live in fear expecting to be the next victim in this never ending series of attack on IIT students. Providing a safe and secure environment should be the first priority of the administration, but the irony of getting thrashed in front of them, being portrayed as the culprits instead as victims has come too far.
The author of the post has requested anonymity.