Varanasi, Sep 25; PTI: The Banaras Hindu University Tuesday suspended classes and asked students to vacate five of its hostels within 24 hours following a late night, on- campus violence, injuring at least six students.
BHU Registrar Neeraj Tripathi ordered closure of the university till September 28 following clashes between BHU resident doctors and hostellers allegedly over non-allotment of bed to a patient.
The students of some hostels in the varsity joined the patient's family members who were engaged in an scuffle with the resident doctors, the police said.
The hostellers and the resident doctors subsequently pelted stones at each other and indulged in arson in the campus, they said.
Following the violence, the BHU registrar ordered suspension of all academic activities in the university and asked students of five hostels to vacate them by 12 noon Wednesday, prompting some students to resort to a sit-in before Birla Hostel to protest the order.
The five hostels whose residents were ordered to move out are Birla Hostel, Lal Bahadur Shastri Hostel, Dhanvantri Hostel and Ruiya Medical Hostel and and Ruiya Annexe.
The students of Birla and Lal Bahadur Shastri hostels sat on dharna, demanding revocation of the order to vacate hostel rooms.
A talk was held Tuesday afternoon between the BHU administration and the protesting students, but it turned out to be futile with the students continuing their dharna.
The BHU administration, meanwhile, decided to get the incidents of violence, arson and vandalism on campus probed by a 'standing committee' and has asked it to submit its report at the earliest.
A large posse of the police force and Provincial Armed Constabulary too was deployed in and around the campus in apprehension of deterioration of the situation.
The police said the family members of the patient were demanding allotment of bed at BHU's Sir Sunderlal Hospital, but a resident doctor expressed his inability to meet the demand immediately, triggering an argument between them.
The argument took a violent turn after the resident doctors and hostellers indulged in arson in the campus, pelted stones, hurled petrol bombs, and attacked and injured each other.
Some "anti-social" elements too set afire two motorcycles and a police picket in the campus, the police said, adding the clashing groups damaged public property and vandalised an ATM cubicle.
At least six students were injured in the incident who were treated at a trauma centre, they said.
Senior police officials including SP (City) Dinesh Kumar Singh rushed to the spot along with several policemen and used "mild force" to bring the situation under control in the early hours Tuesday.
District Magistrate Surendra Singh and SSP Anand Kulkarni rushed to the BHU this morning and held a flag march in the campus and also held talks with the university administration.
A probe has been launched into the incident and a person detained in this connection, the police said.
