On October 30, four students of Baba Farid Group of Institutions hailing from Bihar got a notice from the hostel warden to vacate the hostel with their belongings within 24 hours. The order was issued against them for allegedly “indulging in in-disciplinary activities in the hostel” on the 30th of October. The institute is located in Bathinda, Punjab.
The notice made it to social media platforms and has been making rounds since Sunday morning. It is not clear why the date of incident mentioned is 30th October, or what precisely happened on that day.
OpIndia tried to talk to the students, but they refused. As per our sources, the incident that led to the action against found students took place on the night of October 24. The four students were watching the match between India and Pakistan. When India lost the match, they allegedly heard pro-Pakistan slogans coming from the corridor where Kashmiri students live.
The students tried to reach out to the warden to file a complaint, but his phone was switched off. After that, a few students went to that corridor with bats and wickets to find out who were raising the slogans. The students did go with bats and wickets, but there was no fight between the two groups, our sources said.
The next day, the warden called four of the students whom they identified using the CCTV footage. They were asked to write an apology and promise not to indulge in any such activities in the future. The students obliged, and the issue, according to the students, was over. However, our source added that on the morning of October 30, four students, Kumar Kartikey Ojha, Ayush Kumar Tiwari, Ujjwal Pandey and Aayush Kumar Jaiswal, were called by the warden.
They were handed over a notice to vacate the hostel premises with immediate effect. The source said that the students were not given a chance to tell their side of the story. The action was taken allegedly only against the four students and not against the Kashmiri students.
BJP leader Kapil Mishra took cognizance of the notice and pledged support for the Bihari students.
Institute refused to divulge details
OpIndia reached out to the warden, Lakhbir Singh, of the boys’ hostel who had signed the notice. When we asked him why the notice was issued, Singh refused to talk over the matter. He said, “We cannot talk about this. Give me his number who gave you the notice.” We informed the warden that the notice is being circulated over Twitter, and we can send him a copy if he like. He said, “No, I do not need the copy.” He further declined knowledge of any such notice and said, “There is no such notice issued. I do not want to talk about it.”
We have been informed by sources that the warden has threatened students with consequences if they share the notice on social media.
Scuffle between students from UP-Bihar and Kashmir in Punjab
Another incident was reported on October 26 between the students from UP-Bihar and Kashmir at Bhai Gurdas Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sangrur, Punjab. There were reports that the students from UP-Bihar were rusticated after the scuffle following India’s defeat in Indo-Pak T20 world cup match. The Kashmiri students had allegedly raised pro-Pakistan slogans that led to the fight between the two groups.
This is a developing story.
