J&K Students allegedly beaten up at Jhansi School, sent Home
Student exchange programme between J&K, UP cancelled after reports of assault, violence
Eighteen male students of Navodaya Vidyalay (NV) from J&K, who were at the school’s branch in UP’s Jhansi under an exchange programme, were sent back to the Valley after they were allegedly assaulted by local students when the latter staged a protest on the campus on Thursday night, alleging their schoolmates sent to Rajouri were beaten up there following a dispute the previous day, said police.
The Jhansi students were also on their way back from Rajouri and attack had nothing to do with state or religion, said school authorities. A total of 20 students of NV Jhansi were sent to J&K in August and were staying at the NV hostel in Rajouri, Kashmir.
“The issue involved students’ ego,” said an official. The situation became volatile on the Jhansi campus after reports of a clash in Rajouri reached there. Subsequently, the local students attacked the J&K students in their hostel.
The J&K students alleged they were badly beaten up before being shifted to some other place from where they were taken to the railway station.
Navodaya Vidyalay principal RP Tiwari said 20 students from his school had gone to NV in Rajouri, and 18 students from there (all in class 9) were at his school.
He said the students in Jhansi received information about a fight with Jhansi students in Rajouri, following which they were enraged and attempted to retaliate. “We managed to pacify the students telling them that the incident in Rajouri was a minor one and moved J&K students to a separate room. The situation is under control,” he said, indicating that the Rajouri incident could be a fallout of ragging.
SP (city) Gyanendra Singh said the J&K students were sent back safely. “The students demanded the return of their fellow students from Rajouri, after which school authorities initiated it. The situation on the campus is in control,” he said.
SSP (Jhansi) Rajesh S said a police contingent reached the school and rescued the J&K students from the “ire of local students”. They were escorted to the railway station safely, and law and order situation was normal, he added.
According to locals, while the J&K students were being escorted, the local ones resorted to a dharna. One student claimed that the police allegedly beat up the local students to disperse them, a charge the police vehemently refuted.
