Hyderabad: A clash between Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) members at English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) in the early hours of August 14 left several students injured and led to counter-FIRs being registered against both groups.
The trouble began a day earlier when ABVP held a protest outside the Mahlaq Bai Chanda women’s hostel on August 13 over a student not being allowed to share a room with her friend and other hostel-related issues. NSUI members, including Student Union Vice President Sonu Raj, went to the protest but alleged they were manhandled and subjected to casteist slurs by ABVP members. When NSUI approached the police, Deputy Proctor Upender Gundala allegedly called the police and asked them not to register their complaint, according to NSUI.
NSUI said that after its members returned from the police station, ABVP activists allegedly harassed them in the hostel, and that around 3 am on Friday, ABVP members entered the Basheer men’s hostel with rods and beer bottles, chasing NSUI members through the halls. In a statement, NSUI said several students sustained injuries to their heads, shoulders, arms, backs and necks, that some who had taken refuge in washrooms were dragged out and assaulted despite bleeding, and that luggage was thrown from windows while personal belongings, including phones, were smashed. It alleged that one student was struck on the head with a beer bottle, another was hit with a bamboo stick, and that female NSUI members were subjected to vulgar and obscene comments, all in the presence of Gundala, who is also the hostel warden.
NSUI member Nikhil Kumar filed a complaint at the OU City Police Station, and a case was registered under sections 118(2) (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 324(4) (mischief), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), 352 (intentional insult aimed at provoking a breach of peace), 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), and 191(3) (rioting) read with 190 (joint legal liability for members of an unlawful assembly) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
ABVP has filed a counter-complaint alleging that around the same time, about 20 individuals affiliated with NSUI entered the rooms of ABVP-associated students in Basheer Hostel and assaulted them. A case has been registered against them under sections 118(1), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 333 (house-trespass after preparing to cause hurt, assault, or wrongfully restrain someone), 351(3), and 191(3) read with 190 BNS, according to police.
ABVP said it has been supporting students with hostel concerns and that NSUI members disrupted its peaceful protest on August 13, after which the situation took a “deeply disturbing turn” later that night and the next morning. The outfit has demanded an immediate and impartial investigation and strict disciplinary and legal action against the perpetrators. Police said they have booked cases against both student groups, and seven ABVP members and Sonu Raj were reportedly called to the OU City Police Station on Friday and allegedly detained there till late at night.