Police in Bengaluru Rural district on Tuesday detained 18 members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad after they allegedly vandalised property at Azim Premji University during a protest over a proposed campus event linked to Kashmir, officials and media reports said.
Citing police officials, The Indian Express reported that the ABVP members were taken into custody after they organised a protest on campus and allegedly damaged property.
The ABVP, the student wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, alleged that a student group at the university had planned an event portraying the Indian Army in a poor light and containing “anti-national” content, according to The Hindu. The RSS is the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The proposed event was to discuss the 1991 Kunan Poshpora incident in Kashmir, which relates to allegations of mass rape by security personnel in a village of Kupwara district, The New Indian Express reported.
Ahead of the protest, the ABVP issued a press release condemning what it described as “anti-national” and “Kashmir separatist” sessions against the Indian Army, The Indian Express said. In a memorandum addressed to the Union Home Ministry, the group sought action against the student organisers and the university administration.
In a statement cited by ANI, the university said it had “not authorised any event of this nature”. It added that around 20 persons forced their way into the campus around 6 p.m., shouted slogans, vandalised property and assaulted some security guards and students.
“This event which was allegedly planned by a small group of students did not happen at all,” the university said, according to ANI. “We strongly condemn the ruckus and violence that was unleashed on our campus by this external group of people.”
During the protest, ABVP members allegedly smeared black ink on the university’s signage and spray-painted walls, The Indian Express reported. Security personnel later intervened.
An unidentified student told The Hindu that one student who questioned the protesters was assaulted and later taken to hospital.
Superintendent of Police Chandrakanth MV of Bengaluru Rural told The Indian Express that police had not been informed in advance about the protest.
“As soon as we came to know, we rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control,” he was quoted as saying. “They should have submitted a written intimation and informed the local police before the protest. Citizens cannot take the law into their own hands.”
Following the incident, students of the university held a protest condemning the ABVP’s actions and urged the authorities to act against those involved, The Hindu reported.