In a shameful incident, a 25-year-old research student was attacked by ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad) activists in the Hyderabad University campus after he was mistaken to be a Kashmiri.
On Saturday, according to a report in Hindustan Times, the victim, Anmol Singh was allegedly attacked by a group of around 25 people belonging to the BJP’s students’ wing ABVP, when he was on his way back to his hostel in the University of Hyderabad. Singh was reportedly returning from a protest against alleged police atrocities in Kashmir.
“They knocked me down and started punching on my face and stomach and hitting on my knees. I along with my friends tried to escape into the hostel but they chased us and thrashed us,” Singh was quoted as saying.
#Sikhstudent mistaken for #Kashmiri attacked by #ABVP goons in University of #Hyderabad. @NilimDutta @DasBolshevik pic.twitter.com/HUyTJkzNBy
— Smita Dutta (@Smita_Dutta_) July 19, 2016
Singh Mistaken for former Kashmiri Student
According to Singh, the ABVP members mistook him for Bilal a former student of the university who hailed from Kashmir. Singh said that the ABVP targeted him for his beard and skin color.
According to sources, Bilal, who completed his Ph.D. in HU and returned to Kashmir a few months ago, is an active member of student politics on the campus. Bilal was reportedly vocal about the plight of the Valley and had also participated in several demonstrations.
Singh said, “That is why ABVP was angry and in the darkness, they mistook me as Bilal. They left only after the other students cordoned me and took me to the hospital.”
Shameful attack on University of Hyderabad research scholar Amol Singhhttps://t.co/zD84EJPWaX
— Tanveer Ahmed (@tanveer1729) July 17, 2016
One of the students who witnessed the incident claimed that the ABVP students barged into the hostel saying: Where is Bilal? We will teach a lesson to that anti-national.” According to him, the hostel security guards did not make any efforts to protect Singh when he was being attacked.
Singh alleged that the attack did not stop and he was assaulted by another group of ABVP activists after he reached the hospital. The group left soon after other students intervened.
ABVP Denies Allegations
However, ABVP leaders have reportedly denied the allegations. N Sushil Kumar, an ABVP leader said that it was Singh and his friends who attacked the ABVP students.
“Those Left-wing students confronted us when we were raising Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogans. They raised counter slogans like Kashmir Maange Azaadi and even heckled us,” Sushil said.
The incident happened in the wake of a meeting on “Kashmir issue” conducted by a group of students and faculty members at the University shopping complex, which was objected by another section of students resulting in a scuffle.
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