A shocking incident which again raises questions on the rule of law in our country has occurred in Shahdol, Madhya Pradesh.
Students of the Birsa Munda Government Medical College were assaulted by a large mob of locals, after students objected to a car which had barged into their campus and was circling the girls hostel while playing loud music and mouthing vulgar obscenities at girl students. 10 students, including 2 girls, were left injured after the murderous assault, and one student had to be admitted to ICU, reports Dainik Bhaskar. There was even an attempt to crush students under a vehicle.
Around 8.30 PM on Sunday, around 5-6 people in a car arrived at the gates of the college campus. the guard stopped them from entering, but they argued with him and forcefully entered inside. They started circling the girl’s hostel while playing loud music and flashing disco lights mounted on the car. When students objected and asked them to leave, the men started hurling abuses and threatened to assault the students. The situation escalated and the men also tried to run over the students with their car. Seeing themselves outnumbered, the men fled by scaling the walls/gate of the campus, leaving their car and a 12-year-old boy behind.
After some time they returned, along with a 100-strong mob armed with swords, hockey sticks, lathis, chains etc. The mob stormed into the campus and started beating students, including girls who were molested as well.
The dean of the college Milind Shiralkar corroborated the version of events and said that the outside goons argued with him too and someone from the mob even threatened to destroy the college. He said that one student suffered a serious leg injury when the attackers tried to run him over. The dean called up the SP, after which a large police contingent arrived. Seeing the police, the mob ran away. Chaos reigned in the campus till 1.30 AM that night.
The dean provided the names of injured students – Mahesh Bakodiya (22) is in ICU, while those being treated in the private ward include Anuj Tomar (22), Yug Dwivedi (23), Aditya Singh (20), Vijay Mandloi (21), Josita Thorat (21), Siddarth Sharma (20), Navank Rai (21), Pallavi Bisen (22), Pratik Deo (22).
Around 4.30 AM, an FIR was lodged at Sohagpur police station. Senior police officials also arrived at the college on Monday. SP Kumar Prateek assembled a team to investigate the case. 4 accused have been arrested – Ayaz Khan (32), Mohammed Shakib (23), Sandip Mishra (37) and one other. Other accused who are yet to be arrested include – Raees Ahmed, Nafees Khan, Tauheed Khan, Naushad Khan, Sanskar Bajaj, one Yusuf’s nephew, a bus conductor and 10-12 others. They have all been booked under IPC 147, 148, 149, 323, 294, 506.