Namita Bajpai
LUCKNOW: Coming down heavily on UP police authorities for their 'supine approach' in tackling vandalism on Lucknow University campus on July 4, Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court pulled up the cops for failing to respond promptly to the complaints of the university administration to stop hooliganism on campus, here on Friday.
The two-judge bench comprising, Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Rajesh Singh, directed the UP police authorities to file their version as narrated to the court through an affidavit also mentioning the action taken in the matter on next date of hearing. The court further asked the top cops as to what steps were being taken to spruce up security on the university campus.
The court posted the matter for July 16 for next hearing. Moreover, the bench also issued directives to UP Chief Secretary to set up a committee to coordinate between university and affiliated degree colleges in order to avoid the recurrence of such incidents of violence and vandalism on campuses. It also asked the LU to make suggestion to curb such incidents in future.
The bench was hearing a case with regard to violence on Lucknow University campus during which a group of 25-30 expelled students owing allegiance to Samajwadi Party Chhatra Sabha and some outsiders attacked the teachers leaving at least a dozen injured on last Wednesday. The bench expressed it annoyance over the manner police responded to the situation and failed to act on the complaints given by the university pre-empting unrest. The bench heard the matter in the presence of UP DGP, Lucknow SSP, Lucknow University Vice Chancellor, Registrar and Proctor, who all had appeared in response to the summons issued by the court. The DGP was flanked not only by the SSP Lucknow but also CO, Mahanagar, Anurag Singh who was removed on Thursday.
Additional Advocate general VK Sahi and Chief Standing Counsel Ramesh Pandey defended the police claiming that the incident had occurred all of sudden and that as soon as it came to the knowledge of authorities , immediate action was taken. The court was apprised that the police had no prior information about the likelihood of the incident. At this, the court asked them as to what the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) was doing. The SSP placed his explanation saying that three students were arrested while role of 25 students was under probe. Efforts were on to arrest others also, said the SSP mentioning the name of ex-Vice Chancellor Roop Rekha Verma claiming that she was supporting the cause of expelled students. Taking a suo motu cognizance of the incident through media reports on Thursday, the court took on record the copies of a Hindi and an English language daily newspapers directing its registry to put it as Public Interest Litigation with title 'Lucknow University Vandalism'.