Allahabad HC takes cognisance of LU violence; issues summons to VC, others
Lucknow: The Allahabad High Court on Thursday took suo motu cognizance of the violence in Lucknow University and issued summons to its vice chancellor and registrar.
The Lucknow bench of the high court also directed the senior SP, Lucknow, to be present before it and explain the incident. The order was issued by a bench of justices Vikram Nath and Rajesh Singh Chauhan after media reports on a group of students assaulting the vice chancellor and other top officers of Lucknow University on Wednesday.
The VC, the registrar and the SSP have been asked to be present before the bench on Friday at 10.15 am. The university was closed till further orders on Wednesday after a group of students protesting over admission to the new academic session attacked teachers, injuring over a dozen of them, officials said.
Read: Lucknow University closed until further notice after attack on faculty members
LU vice chancellor SP Singh has said the youths claimed they were from the Samajwadi Party.
"Over a dozen teachers were injured in the incident. I might have also been attacked by them but my colleagues saved me and I reached my office," he told reporters in Lucknow on Wednesday.
"All those involved in the incident were not LU students, and were anti-social elements and outsiders claiming themselves to be SP workers. There were 25-30 such persons involved in the attack," he had said.
"The university has been closed sine die and the counselling going on for the admissions has also been stopped. We are going to lodge an FIR in this connection against those we identify," the VC had said.
When asked when the university planned to reopen, the VC said, "It has been closed till further orders."
Among the teachers injured were proctor Vinod Singh and chief provost Sangita Rani, university officials said. Some university guards were also hurt.
"Three persons have been arrested in this connection. We are awaiting a complaint by the university administration," Trans Gomti SP Harendra Kumar said.
A group of over 20 ex-students had been protesting on the campus since Monday, alleging that they were denied admission to the postgraduate courses because they had taken part in an agitation against UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. They had allegedly obstructed Adityanath's convoy and waved black flags at it in June 2017, opposing his visit to the campus.
The police had then arrested 11 students. Most of the students who took part in the protests against Adityanath in 2017 were members of the left-wing All India Students' Association (AISA) and the Samajwadi Party's student wing Chhatra Sabha. When asked about the row over admissions, the VC said, "There are laid-down procedures for admission to the University. It cannot be given against norms."
