Govt withdraws CRPF from NIT for ‘fanning’ protests
Paramilitary personnel were found to have shot videos which went viral online
The government has withdrawn paramilitary CRPF from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) campus here after complaints that they were instigating protests.
The CRPF men were deployed in the campus after the clashes between local and non local students over India’s loss to West Indies in WorldT20 semi final match on March 31.
“Within few days of their deployment, the CRPF men were removed from the duties after it was found that some of the officials had shot the videos of the protests, which went viral on the social networking sites, thereby fanning the protests,” official sources said.
They said the deployment and replacement was done on the request of the police and the NIT administration.
“CRPF was deployed in the campus but it was seen that the role of the paramilitary force has not been satisfactory. There were complaints that some of the CRPF officials were shooting the videos of the protests by non local students in the campus. After receiving the complaints, CRPF men were withdrawn from the campus,” said a senior official.
He said CRPF was deployed to contain the protests but now only 60 personnel of Sashtra Seema Bal (SSB) remain stationed in the campus.
Director NIT, Rajat Gupta, confirmed that SSB remains deployed in the campus.
He said the SSB deployment was maintained even as normalcy has returned to the campus, where the class-work resumed today.
Officials, however, said majority of non-local students stayed away from the classes and only about 450 outstation students attended the classes.
“The attendance was negligible in most of the classes but protests were not held at the campus,” they said.
A senior government official said while the SSB is deployed inside the campus, police men were maintaining security at the campus gate. “The CRPF was drawn from Srinagar and deployed in the campus. The CRPF men were withdrawn as their job was to maintain security and not to shoot the videos,” he said.
A senior CRPF official, pleading anonymity, said the deployment was coordinated with the police.
“It was on their (police) request only that the paramilitary force was withdrawn from the campus. I am not aware about any adverse reports against the CRPF,” he said.
A faculty member working at the campus, however, also blamed some rightwing groups for fanning the protests.
“We have received calls from the parents of some of the students that they have left their homes but were camping at Jammu and are taking part in the protests, which are being held by the right wing parties,” he said.
