BHU protests: Panel gives clean chit to then VC GC Tripathi, says students provoked by political parties

A judicial committee set up to look into violence on the campus of the Banaras Hindu University has given a clean chit to then Vice Chancellor who allegedly mishandled protests by students.

The then BHU VC Girish Chandra Tripathi (Express Photo | Shekhar Yadav)

NEW DELHI: A judicial committee set up to look into violence on the campus of the Banaras Hindu University has given a clean chit to then Vice Chancellor GC Tripathi who was under fire for allegedly mishandling the protests by students, university sources said today.

In its report, the committee pointed out loopholes in the handling of the agitation last September by the state administration and also blamed "anti-social elements" and political parties for provoking the students.

Former Allahabad High Court judge VK Dikshit, who was appointed by Tripathi to conduct an independent enquiry, recently submitted his report to the BHU authorities.

A number of students and two journalists were injured in a baton-charge by the police after a demonstration against an alleged incident of sexual harassment turned violent in BHU, one of the 43 central universities in the country.

The sources said Dixit has given a clean chit to Tripathi and said the university authorities discharged their duty by reaching out to the victim and informing the police immediately about the alleged molestation.

Asserting that the student agitation was politicised, Dikshit is learnt to have stated that the state administration did not take appropriate action to prevent the violence and representatives of the state police and administration did not appear before him despite repeated reminders for their version of the incident.

Tripathi had gone on leave in November last year, two months before his tenure came to an end, following the ruckus on campus.

HRD Ministry sources had indicated that the central government was displeased with the manner in which the then VC had handled the entire episode.