Student protests rock Kashmir University over Dean’s ‘assault’ inside campus

Srinagar, Apr 2: Massive student protests rocked the Kashmir University campus on Monday morning over the daylight assault of the Dean of Social Sciences faculty allegedly by a nephew of HOD Political Sciences inside the varsity campus three days ago.
Nearly 200 students from social science departments, particularly the Department of History, assembled outside the New Administration Building and started raising pro-justice and anti-university administration slogans.
The protesters, including boys and girls, demanded a copy of FIR filed by police station Nigeen into Friday’s incident wherein Prof Muhammad Yousuf Ganai, Dean School of Social Sciences was allegedly assaulted by a nephew of HOD Political Sciences Prof Gul Mohammad Wani inside the campus after a scuffle broke out when viva of a research scholar was to be conducted under their supervision.
The incident led to the exchange of nasty abuses between the Dean and HOD while bystanders including girl students watched the shameful incident and kept their heads down in shame. The matter eventually ended in the police registering complaints.
The protesters alleged that the University authorities were trying to save the accused nephew of HOD who is reportedly a doctor by profession.
“Why is University saying he was an outsider youth when he is the real nephew of the HOD? Why was he in campus that day? Was he brought by the HOD with the deliberate intention to assault the Dean inside the campus? If Dean can be assaulted, who will guarantee the safety of students and research scholars on the campus?” the protesters said.
“We want a copy of the FIR filed by the police? We have information that police have spared the main accused and filed some complaints of non-cognizable nature when it was a broad daylight assault on a senior professor who is a Dean, which has put a huge question mark on the safety of students inside the campus,” said the protesters who were being pacified by the University officials when this report was filed.
The protesters demanded the inclusion of section 302 (attempt to murder) against the accused.
“We also want adequate security in the University campus which has become a place for vagabonds who are freely allowed inside the campus with their personal vehicles,” they said, demanding the personal presence of VC and Registrar in the campus to resolve the matter and take action against the accused nephew of HOD and his uncle.
“The University officials are lying that VC and Registrar are out of the station. They don’t want to talk to us because they fear the truth,” the protesters alleged.
On Saturday, SHO police station Nigeen said that they are approaching the court in the matter after receiving two non-cognizable complaints by both parties.
The University authorities are meanwhile maintaining silence in the matter, with students alleging that they were being complicit in the whole episode.
The Friday incident has come a few days after a video of non-teaching employees fighting inside the administration block went viral on social media sites.
Insiders are demanding that the VC and Registrar should immediately step down over the deteriorating malfunctioning of the University. They have sought LG’s intervention in the matter so that students’ safety and security of faculty are not compromised in any manner. (KNT)