BHU Violence: Government Removes SHO, Circle Officer And Additional City Magistrate Over Lathi-Charge

A Station House Officer (SHO) of Lanka area, Circle Officer (CO) of Bhelupur and one Additional City Magistrate (ACM) were removed after being held prima facie responsible for ordering lathi-charge at Varanasi’s Banaras Hindu University (BHU). The removal comes just 24 hours after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath sought a report from Varanasi Divisional Commissioner Nitin Gokarn over the issue. The Chief Minister ordered an inquiry into the violence on Saturday night.

Meanwhile, Gokarn had informed ANI that normalcy has been restored after the agitation. Refuting claims of university being closed due to protests, Gokarn clarified that it has been closed until 2 October on account of Dussehra festival. Kashi Vidyapeeth and other affiliated colleges have also been closed on the same account.

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday lathi-charged the BHU students, who were protesting since three days against alleged molestation of a girl student.

It has been reported that the protesting students tried to enter the residence of the Vice Chancellor and when the deployed security forces tried to stop them, students became violent; it is then when the security forces used force to disperse them. The ongoing protesters outside the BHU campus was triggered when a first-year female student of BHU alleged that she was molested by three bike-borne men outside the campus on Thursday.

The victim claimed that she went to the university administration to complain about the incident but the administration in lieu of taking any action against the molesters, shamed the victim for her awkward hostel timings.

Angered by the laid-back attitude of the administration and lack of action, the students staged protests outside the campus on Friday and blocked entry to the campus through the main gate. (ANI)