LUCKNOW: Students staged a protest at Kanpur’s Maharana Pratap Engineering College after teachers allegedly chased and beat students who arrived late to campus.
Ten students, including four girls, were injured in the incident.
The injured students were identified as Abhishek, Chitransh, Krishna, Agrim Dwivedi, Akshansh, Asmit Sonkar, Muskan, Anjali, Anshika, and Ananya.
Students said they were delayed by only 10 minutes, blaming heavy fog in the city and saying they had to rely on their own means of transport to reach the campus.
A case was registered at Bithoor police station against three teachers based on the complaint given by Akshansh Awasthi’s father.
He stated that his son, a first-year BBA student, was unwell at the time but was still beaten along with other students, following which a case was registered against teachers Anil Kumar Pathak of the Electrical Engineering department, sistant Professors Subhash Chandra Maurya of the Computer Science and Engineering department, and Pankaj.
Following the unrest, the college management also suspended Maurya and Pathak.
Four other teachers — Prashant Mishra, Shubham Goyanka, Rohit Verma, and Shivani Kapoor — were taken into police custody.
Students also alleged that teachers, including Pathak, charged Rs 300 as a late fee, used verbal abuse, imposed illegal fines, and threatened them with expulsion. They warned that the protest would be intensified if no action was taken against those responsible.
Reportedly, one of the girls, Muskan, suffered a cut on her hand and began bleeding, which triggered the protest.
Students raised slogans demanding justice as the protest intensified. Some college property was damaged during the agitation.
As the protest intensified, police and PAC forces were called in.
Following the protest, an inquiry committee was formed, and the management announced that the college would remain closed till Monday.
Students warned that any action against them would trigger further protests, holding the administration responsible.
Classes at Kanpur’s Maharana Pratap Engineering College, located on GT Road in Mandhana, begin at 9 am. On Wednesday, students from BBA, BCA, and BTech courses arrived after the scheduled time. It is alleged that teachers thrashed students who arrived late and shut the college gate.
Sources said that after late-arriving students were beaten, teachers shut another gate, leaving several students stranded outside the campus. When students asked to be allowed in, they were refused, leading to a confrontation.
Angry teachers reportedly came out carrying sticks and began hitting students at the gate. Other students inside the classrooms witnessed the incident, rushed out, and started raising slogans.
As tensions grew, students said they informed the Bithoor police station, alleging that they were blocked at the gate and assaulted. They claimed that when they questioned the action, teachers continued to beat them with sticks.
More than a dozen complaints were submitted to ACP Kalyanpur.