Two FIRs registered regarding violence at NIT campus

The police have invoked sections 148, 149, 427, 336 and 323 of RPC for the clashes between local and outstation students on Friday, an official said.

Srinagar: Police has registered two separate FIRs regarding the incidents of the violence that took place on NIT Srinagar campus on last Friday and Tuesday.

The first FIR was registered against unknown persons for the clashes between outstation and local students on April 1, a day after India lost to West Indies in the semi-final of the World T20 Cup.

The police has invoked sections 148 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 427 (mischief), 336 (endangering life of others) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the Ranbir Penal Code (RPC) for the clashes between local and outstation students that took place on Friday, a police official said.

In the second FIR registered on April 5, the police, besides slapping the charges of the previous FIR, has added sections 353 (assault on public servant) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).

While no one has been named in the two FIRs yet, the official said police is investigating the video evidence of the violence that took place on the days of incidents.

Police also released video clippings showing non-local students attacking the cops with stones and damaging property at the campus.

The video, shot on Tuesday when trouble restarted in the campus, shows a large number of non-local students protesting against the NIT administration and trying to march towards the main gate of the campus.

The students, some of them masked, are seen carrying iron rods and stones. Some of the students threw stones at Jammu and Kashmir Police and many buildings of the campus resulting in damage to many window panes.

They are also seen vandalizing the property at the campus, including damaging a private car of an administrative official.

The security forces then resorted to baton charge to disperse the protesting students.

Meanwhile, a group of non-local girl students today said their fight was against the administration and the issue should not be given a political or religious colour.

"Our issue was not to incite the tempers. We all want justice. We are just fighting against our administration and we are not fighting on religious issues. So please don't make it a religious issue," said a girl student at the NIT in a video message.

"We neither want a temple to be built here nor do we want to demolish a mosque. We only want justice on what happened to our friends and don't make it a political or religious issue," said another girl said in the video.

They said the non-local students were not against the local students but wanted justice for their friends who, they alleged, were beaten by the police on Tuesday.

"They (the administration) is saying (that) the situation is normal. Only 10 per cent of the students are going to the classes and 90 per cent are boycotting. Is this situation called normal? We are not against the locals, we are really not against them.

"All we want is the justice for our friends who were brutally beaten by the police," the girl said.