By Shruti Sharma
New Delhi: On the intervening night of January 26-27, a mob of at least thirty individuals allegedly assaulted students at the Sabarmati Hostel of the Central University of Gujarat (CUG). One of the students who was attacked, Rajkaran Singh, a Dalit, has alleged he faced physical violence, caste-based slurs, obscene language and sexualised threats from the mob. In his complaint, he alleges that the assailants are affiliated with the ABVP, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The student’s formal legal complaint, filed with the university administration, demands action under the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. In the complaint, he emphasises the need to enforce the new University Grants Commission’s (UGC) guidelines on equity in higher educational institutions.
Singh is a first-year undergraduate student in the Department of Social Management Studies and resides at the Sabarmati Hostel. On January 28, he sent an email to the Provost, Registrar and Dean of Student Welfare at CUG, saying he had been facing continuous harassment and caste-based insults since the very first day of his admission to the university.
According to him, the incidents of the intervening night of January 26 and 27 were the culmination of this prolonged harassment.
Mob barged into hostel
According to Singh, at around 11:30 pm on January 26, the mob, which included day scholars at CUG, illegally entered Sabarmati Hostel despite a curfew. The mob started assaulting students, including Singh, right away, and it continued until 3 am.
The Wire Hindi attempted to contact the other students but did not receive any responses.
According to Singh, he and several other students tried to de-escalate the situation created by the mob. However, some individuals continued to provoke and intensify the conflict.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.