An official from Allahabad University (AU) informed that tension is prevailing on the campus, as a student died after drinking water from a water cooler near the Students' Union building. Alleging negligence on the administration's part, hundreds of students staged a protest on Wednesday, July 12, which allegedly turned violent.
Incidents of students going on a rampage, damaging property and misbehaving with some female teachers were reported. As a result, additional forces have been deployed on the campus, as per a report by IANS.
According to the protesters, after attending a class, 22-year-old Ashutosh Dubey, a final-year BA student, went to drink water from the cooler and collapsed while drinking. He was rushed to the SRN Hospital where he was declared "brought dead". The students alleged that AU authorities failed to provide an ambulance on time and they had to take Dubey on an e-rickshaw. They further alleged that the security personnel did not allow the e-rickshaw to enter the campus.
What happened next?
Angry students first blocked the busy Motilal Nehru Road and later blocked the entry and exit from AU by blocking the Library gate of the Arts campus. A group of student leaders also went to various departments and forcefully closed them. The students who had blocked AU's library gate were accompanied by the father of the deceased. Videos of the violent protests, in which glass panes of the almirah and doors of the Central Library were smashed, went viral on social media.
The protesters went to the Proctor's office and indulged in a heated argument with him and his team. At the Sanskrit department, students broke earthen pots and furniture. They also allegedly abused the female teachers of the department and manhandled them.
The students demanded FIR against the Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, the Dean of Students Welfare Shanti Sunderam and Proctor Rakesh Singh, and sought their resignation. They also sought compensation for the family of the deceased, as per IANS.
The agitation ended after the police accepted Dubey's father's application in which he maintained that DSW and Proctor were responsible for the death of his son. Police have assured of registering a complaint on the basis of the application. However, AU Public Relations Officer Jaya Kapoor rebutted the charges and said there was no negligence on the part of the university as an ambulance was dispatched immediately after the information was received.
