Amritsar university gates blocked in protest after ‘assault’ on students by security guard

High drama was witnessed today at the entrance gates of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) as students took to the main entrance gate in protest against the campus security personnel, in protest against alleged assault on two students. The matter escalated within hours as students blocked both the entrance gates of the university and sat on a dharna, demanding action against the security guard.

As per students present at the protest site, one of the security personnel engaged in heated altercation with two students outside the boys’ hostel No. 1, as the latter were about to enter the hostel for breakfast, after parking their motorcycle in the parking area of the hostel. The security personnel stopped them, while calling them outsiders and denied them entry into the hostel. The matters took turn for the worse, when students alleged that the security personnel hit them after which their turbans came off. The security guard’s alleged misconduct sparked outrage, prompting students to block both the university gates and sit on a dharna. One of the students was a hosteller and was accompanied by another student of the university.

As students demanded immediate action against the security personnel, Dr Preet Mohinder Singh Bedi Dean, Student Welfare, and Dr KS Kahlon, Registrar, intervened and invited protesting students for a meeting.

“The university authorities have resolved the matter and dismissed the security personnel concerned with immediate effect. They also issued apology for the misconduct with the students,” said one of the students, a member of the student organisation Sath, who was part of the delegation which attended meeting with university officials.

Students alleged that the security personnel’s had made it a routine matter to harass them and at times, misbehaved with them. “Two years ago, one of the security guards at the main gate had slapped a girl student of the Law Department. This have become a norm and it needs to be looked into by the university authorities,” said Jaskaran Singh Zira, vice president, Sath.