BHUBANESWAR: Three police teams have been set up to nab the miscreants who attacked the students of Utkal University (UU) on Saturday as well on Friday night.
Police Commissioner Dr RP Sharma, who convened an emergency meeting to review security on university campus, said strict action would be initiated against the assailants. “Anyone found indulging in violence on the varsity campus will be booked under stringent sections of the IPC,” Sharma said. He directed the university officials to expedite construction work of the campus boundary wall and assured that adequate protection will be given to contractors or Central Public Works Department personnel.
The university officials were also asked to impose a ban on stay of outsiders in hostels. In case any relative of an inmate has a genuine reason for a short stay, his or her identity must be verified and recorded by the hostel superintendent, Sharma added.
A fitness centre in the city, which has come under the scanner after repeated incidents of violence at UU, will be seized if it is found to be used for harbouring anti-socials, Sharma said, adding that “Mobile patrolling will be intensified and armed guards deployed at the university gates.”
On Saturday morning, PG students had gheraoed the Vice-Chancellor’s office demanding arrest of outsiders who attacked hostel boarders. The incident, protesters alleged, was the handiwork of a fitness centre owner Bapi Nayak, who was recently arrested by the police over a similar incident.
A few hours after the strike, armed assailants sneaked into the campus through Pathabandha slum and attacked two PG students brutally.
Currently, there is no provision of security at many entry points at the university. “The 400-acre campus is surrounded by slums of Acharya Vihar, Laxmi Vihar, VSS Nagar and Pathabandha areas. Several attempts to sanitise the campus with boundary walls proved futile as the structures were demolished by local residents who use the campus as a daily commuting route,” a UU official said.
Recently, a group of anti-socials attacked a private contractor who was engaged for constructing the boundary wall. Among others, Vice-Chancellor Ashok Kumar Das, PG Council Chairman RK Bal and senior police officials were present.