LUCKNOW: A day after the sudden demise of an undergraduate student after drinking water from a water cooler on Allahabad University (AU) campus on Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of students on Wednesday, staged a huge violent protest on the campus and outside resorting to vandalism, damaging property and even misbehaving with some female professors.
While demanding the registration of an FIR against the AU authorities including the Vice Chancellor, Registrar, the DSW and the Proctor, the protesting students sought their resignation and compensation for the family of the deceased.
As per the AU sources, Ashutosh Dubey, 22, a fifth-semester student of Bachelor of Vocational Studies (BVoS) of IPS, went to drink water at the water cooler near the Students’ Union building in Arts faculty on Tuesday. While drinking, he collapsed and was rushed to SRN hospital where he was declared dead upon arrival by the doctors.
As per students, Ashutosh was presently staying with a relative in Allahpur's locality. The postmortem of the body was conducted at the morgue located at SRN Hospital campus late on Monday evening. Officials said that it was a case of suspected poisoning and the viscera has been preserved to determine the exact cause of death.
Ashutosh was the only son of Ganesh Shankar Dubey, a farmer of Arakhurd village under Uttaraon police station of Prayagraj and the only brother to his two sisters.
The protesting students alleged that AU authorities failed to provide an ambulance in time despite the fact that it was stationed on the campus and that they had to take the victim on an e-rickshaw. They also alleged that the security personnel did not allow the e-rickshaw to enter the campus.
Dubey’s father Ganesh Shankar Dubey filed a complaint against the university administration at the Colonelganj police station late on Tuesday night. However, on Wednesday, Dubey’s father gave a new complaint in which he dropped the name of V-C and Registrar but demanded the police authorities to lodge an FIR against the Dean, Student Welfare (DSW) and Proctor.
On a rampage, the agitated student leaders, on Wednesday, blocked the busy Motilal Nehru Road at the KPUC gate followed by the entry and exit gates. They also blocked the Library gate of the Arts campus. A group of student leaders then went to various departments and forced them to close suspending the classes. The agitated students went to the proctor’s office and indulged in a heated argument with the proctor and his team.
At the Sanskrit department, students resorted to vandalism breaking earthen pots, furniture etc. They damaged the glass panes of the almirah and doors of the Central Library. They also abused the female teachers of the department and allegedly manhandled them by forcing them out of the staff room. Videos of violent protests by the enraged students, accompanied by the father of the deceased, made rounds on social media.
The agitation ended at around 3:00 pm, when the police accepted the application of Dubey’s father, wherein, he had held DSW Prof Shanty Sunderam, and Proctor Rakesh Singh responsible for the sudden demise of his son. Police have assured them of registering a case on the basis of the complaint.
However, refuting the allegations of negligence, AU public relation officer (PRO) Prof Jaya Kapoor claimed that an ambulance was dispatched as soon as the information of the collapse of a student was received.
“Some external chaotic elements under the leadership of Ajay Yadav ‘Samrat’ vandalized the university campus and indulged in indecency and scuffle with some female teachers causing injury to them. The university administration had taken prompt action on its part. The assault on women on the campus and vandalism on the pretext of death of the student is highly condemnable. Police should take strict action against such anti-social elements otherwise it will be difficult for the teachers to conduct classes in an atmosphere of personal insecurity,” said the PRO in a statement.
ACP Chirag Jain said that after much effort students were convinced to call off their protest. Further action would be taken after going through the complaints received in regard to the incident, he added.
Meanwhile, police took the body to the victim’s ancestral village along with his father and held the cremation on Wednesday evening. The student leaders held a mourning meeting at the student union building in the evening.