A day after a group of students of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) set a school bus on fire, damaged half a dozen vehicles and an ATM cubicle inside the campus, 15 current and former students were booked on 21 December, for arson and rioting. No arrests have been made so far.
An Indian Express report said that they were protesting the arrest of a member of the BHU unit of the Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha. Ashutosh Singh – a member of the Samajwadi Party's student wing – was arrested for allegedly creating ruckus during a cultural event of IIT-BHU a few months ago, police said.
The protesters broke the windows of nearly half a dozen vehicles and smashed the glass door of an ATM, police said.
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“They locked the main gate of the campus and cut the wires of the CCTV cameras installed near the gate,” an official said.
Varanasi IG Deepak Ratan told IE, “An FIR on charges of rioting and arson and damage to public property has been registered… We have not detained or arrested anyone so far.”
Police are still verifying the names of those involved in the incident before making any arrests as they don’t want to “pick anyone up without being entirely sure”.
In September this year, a number of students, including women and two journalists, were injured in a lathicharge by the police in the BHU campus after a protest against an alleged eve-teasing incident turned violent.
On 21 September, a first-year-student was allegedly molested and harassed by three men outside her hostel at around 6 pm. The authorities reportedly questioned why the girl was outside at the time, triggering widespread protests by students.
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