- 21 minutes ago
Tension escalated at Lovely Professional University in Punjab as student protests over rape rumours turned violent, leading to intense clashes with the police. Protesters pelted stones, shattered vehicle window panes, and set a Punjab Police vehicle ablaze, leaving several police personnel injured, including one with a head injury. In response, police personnel resorted to a mild lathi charge before retreating to seek reinforcements from Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur. Protesters had earlier blocked the national highway for hours and ransacked shops on campus while demanding the registration of an FIR, the constitution of a Special Investigation Team, and meetings with university authorities. While university administration refuted the allegations of rape and labelled them as rumours, police registered an FIR and formed an SIT to conduct an investigation. Senior police officers on the ground confirmed efforts to stabilise the area and identify individuals involved in arson and vandalism.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hi Drama at the Punjab's lovely professional university over the rumours of rape.
00:05Protesters have now come out to target police and cops have also been attacked and they have also come out
00:13to counter that attack.
00:15Vehicles have been damaged with stone pelting reported on the ground.
00:18These are the visuals that we're bringing to you at this given point of fresh hostilities and clash between the
00:27police and the students there.
00:29And Kamaljeet Sandhu joining me on the broadcast with more details on this.
00:33Kamaljeet, a very good evening to you.
00:35This is escalations again seen between the two sides.
00:40And what exactly are you bringing us from the ground right now?
00:43What's the situation like there?
00:48A serious turn of events because stone pelting and massive projectiles being thrown at police.
00:53You see them in riot gear now and this is where it seems the situation has turned tense.
00:59On the other side, what you can see is arsid and that is where tyres being burnt and where we
01:05can say SSP, Gaurav Tura is here and also Neerat Singhla is here.
01:11Naveen Singhla is here.
01:12Sir, you're live but do...
01:15There were some anti-national, anti-social elements who have pelted stones.
01:20So, some mild lathe charge was done and we have retreated also.
01:25Sir, it seems the situation is tense.
01:28Several of your cars have now been broken.
01:31What is the next...
01:32I am assessing the situation.
01:34More forces being called.
01:35More forces being called in.
01:37Let me tell you that there are around 24 hostels and almost a thousand in each of these hostels.
01:44And there you can see a smoke bellowing out.
01:47So, this is where what we can tell you is a situation taking attention to several vehicles including those ones
01:55that belonging to the press.
01:57And look at this.
01:58A car now making its way out.
02:01This is where what we can tell you is again the window panes shattered.
02:07This is obviously a huge escalation because remember the cops, the LPU administration as well as the students.
02:14And there you can hear loud sounds coming in.
02:18And this means this is a major escalation.
02:20And obviously, cops who had maintained patience.
02:24Remember, there are multiple versions.
02:26One which has been alleged by the students where they have been saying that as far as rape is concerned,
02:32that has taken place.
02:33The LPU said no such thing happened.
02:36An FIR was registered.
02:38An SIT formed.
02:39But meanwhile, what we can tell you is look at those visuals.
02:42What we can show you on India today is that is where arson taking place.
02:47Senior cops obviously now taking shield.
02:50Several of them had to flee.
02:52And we saw them actually fleeing space.
02:55And which also means look at this.
02:57If you can see, stones were being pelted.
03:01So, they were chased out.
03:03But remember, the force being utilized.
03:06And there you can see, if we can try and show you here.
03:10And that is where the students have now escalated the matter.
03:15And that is the smoke billowing.
03:16We don't know if it's a vehicle or if there is something more.
03:20But we can hear a loud noise coming in, which basically means that the students are out there in large
03:28numbers.
03:29That means there has to be a certain escalation coming in even from the force.
03:34But clearly, tense situation right here on ground zero.
03:38So, what we can show you is now what looks like a vehicle.
03:46Now, we can confirm to you that is a vehicle which has been torched now.
03:52And this is where what we know is.
03:55Kamaljeet, if you can hear me, is it a police vehicle?
03:57Taking a serious turn.
04:02Yes, I can confirm that to you.
04:04It is a Punjab police vehicle.
04:07Look at those number of students.
04:09We can feel the heat from there.
04:11And this is where what we can tell you is.
04:14The police, police.
04:16And that is where what we can actually hear is.
04:19We don't know.
04:21Sir, Major Singh, he's the SP here.
04:24Sir, sir, this car is running.
04:26There are several vehicles now.
04:41They were targeted.
04:43And one of them has turned turtle.
04:46That being torched.
04:48And what we can hear is the students from the other side.
04:50Kamaljeet, I could just hear the SP say that there are some of his officers perhaps who have been injured
04:55in the process as well.
04:56They're trying to get them to the hospital.
05:02Yes.
05:03Oh, look at that.
05:05Those are obviously sounds coming in from the car.
05:08This is where what we can tell you is several of these cops have been injured and they're being rushed.
05:17We saw somebody with a head injury.
05:19Remember, one of the negotiations that these students were having is that one, no FIR should be pressed against them.
05:27One, the other was that there should not be any sort of an aggressive action as far as the university
05:33is concerned.
05:34But given the sort of escalation in terms of violence, it looks things are very bad on the ground.
05:42And despite a lot of questions being shown, you know, the goalposts kept changing.
05:48Because first they said FIR, then they said SIT, then they said arrest the accused.
05:52Then they further said, let's just meet Mrs. Rashmi Mithal, who is the chancellor.
05:58Then thereafter, what we can tell you is they wanted a video conference with her.
06:04That did not happen.
06:05And after which, when the police went once again to them because they had gone throughout the day,
06:10they actually did a mild lathe charge.
06:14And that is when the projectiles really came in.
06:17And a serious situation, what we can tell you is several cops are hurt.
06:22And this is where, remember, there were trucks and buses because this national highway was blocked.
06:28But just a couple of hours ago, they made way, they removed those buses and trucks,
06:35thinking that perhaps there could be violence.
06:38And this is what has really happened.
06:40And the anticipation has been correct because there has been asking that noise,
06:45the horn that you hear is the continuous horn that you see from the tossed vehicle.
06:51Clearly, violence now gripping LPU.
06:54And this is going to be very difficult because these are students with future at stake.
06:58And now them indulging in violence, they will be identified.
07:02Kamaljeev, that's the question.
07:02Something that they didn't want.
07:03They said, do not have.
07:06Yeah, I'm sorry to break your chain of thoughts there.
07:10But I want to understand one thing.
07:12You've been there covering the story since morning.
07:15Help us understand the students that you've seen on the ground there who are protesting
07:20and the students or the young people there who are engaging in such behavior,
07:25vandalism and arson, that is.
07:27How many of them could you make out are actually students of the university,
07:31enraged students of the university indeed?
07:35Or have they come in from someplace else?
07:38Could you make that out?
07:43So, yes, the vehicle is still tossed.
07:46There are a couple of cops there.
07:48But remember, the first thing is to respond and rescue its own members.
07:52But what we can tell you is that there are at least 40,000 students of LPU,
07:57at least 25,000 who stay inside in different hostels.
08:01Now, 12, a dozen are women's hostels, a dozen are for the boys.
08:06But here, what we can tell you is how things got out of hand is when they pressed on that
08:12there should be an FIR in case of something which was thought to be a trigger of a rumor.
08:18But that is when the negotiation began very early in the morning.
08:21Because now, for the past 20 hours or so, this negotiation is happening.
08:26By 2 o'clock, Punjab police came in.
08:28They tried to speak to the students.
08:29Meanwhile, they had vandalized and some of them had even looted several of the shops within the LPU campus.
08:35But again, any sort of charges is something which these students did not agree on.
08:39And this is where what we can hear, even during in the gullies, is what you can hear are students.
08:46And this is where several of the press people whose cars were also damaged,
08:51this is where what we can tell you is, this is where we can hear and we can try and
08:59see that we can make a dash.
09:01Because remember, several of these students are now, look at this Punjab police now,
09:07they are actually trying to move away.
09:10But remember, the reinforcement will happen in some time.
09:14But several of them being pelted with stones is leading them to actually, now look at that.
09:20We show you visuals from behind, but you can hear it from the side.
09:23Also where several of these students seem to be picking up stones and that is where we will just switch
09:33off the lights.
09:34Because it seems that is leading them to actually target several of those people.
09:41And there you hear, look at that.
09:44You can hear and you can sense the urgency.
09:48See, now this is where...
09:49Are these gunshots?
09:51Kamal ji, are those gunshots?
09:57See, we cannot make out, but it does seem that this seems to be coming out from the car itself.
10:03But a clearer version will come in from the senior officers.
10:06Several of them who have rushed their men to hospitals.
10:10We'll just try and get you a sense.
10:13Sir, yeh awaz jo aaree hai, wo kahaan se aaree hai, kiski awaz hai?
10:29So what we can tell you is, the situation turning extremely serious.
10:35And we can try and tell you that several of the students have come out.
10:39And this is where they started with throwing stones and projectiles.
10:43But later, it turned very serious.
10:46And that is where the car was tossed.
10:47We saw several window panes and cars being damaged.
10:50And this is where it does seem Punjab police will have action in some time.
10:56But this is going to be a major escalation.
10:59Because remember, future is at stake.
11:00But if they're resorting to violence, that gives them enough.
11:05This is where we've been asked to put the flashlights out.
11:07Because again, the stone is being thrown.
11:11So you can understand what's really happening in Punjab right now.
11:15This is where we've seen Punjab police now in a retreat mode.
11:20But again, remember, they'll ask for additional reinforcement in some time.
11:26Because in the morning also, they came in from Hushyarpur, from Jalandhar.
11:30And it seems after this, it's going to be another round.
11:35And perhaps this is where Punjab police was contemplating.
11:39But they said they wanted to go soft on the students.
11:42But now this coming in from the students itself, it seems they will have certain, not only cases,
11:49but certain sort of action taking place at night.
11:54Absolutely, Kamalji.
11:55The scene that you are bringing to us on our screens right now, viewers, just take a look at that
12:02shot.
12:03With every passing minute, there's one part of the car that you can hear in the background,
12:07bursting tires, an inferno that is only seemingly escalating.
12:14The blazing car and the bellow of smoke overhead just gives you an idea
12:19of the extent of vandalism and arson that the students there had resorted to, have resorted to.
12:27Stone pelting still continues as Kamaljiit is bringing us these reports from the ground.
12:32Kamaljiit, speaking of police reinforcements, what seems to be the situation?
12:37Yes, they have said that their priority is to take their injured officers to the hospital first.
12:42But when things start getting out of hands to this extent,
12:46there is some sort of police action that's expected to take place.
12:50Light on.
12:53And now, let me tell you, these were vehicles which were stuck for several hours.
12:59You know, you came out and came out, how many times have you been stuck?
13:02We'll just get you a sense of how long they've been stuck.
13:05How many times have you been stuck?
13:08Hardways are standing here.
13:10How many times have you been stuck?
13:10And there is no way there is no way.
13:13There is no way there is no way.
13:14What do you think about it?
13:15Madam, if we did not have to stop?
13:17We should not have to stop for the time.
13:19All right, sir.
13:20Where are we going to go?
13:20When do you want to go to the police in anticipation of the Punjab police did move?
13:24Make several of the vehicles move, but now look at these.
13:27The vehicles and Punjab police personnel now all heading out.
13:31And look at this.
13:33We are with them and this is where the DSP is here.
13:37We'll just try and get you a sense from Mr. Barar, the DSP Barar is here.
13:44Sir, how many people are injured?
13:46Yes, I'm sending it to the hospital.
13:50Yes, I send it to the hospital.
13:54Sir, how many of your young people are?
13:58How many of your police are injured?
14:00Sir, the police are injured.
14:02Our car is broken.
14:02We're watching.
14:04What action can happen?
14:16Sir, this is where consolidating, and what we can tell you is, this is a sort of setback
14:23with several of the Punjab police personnel hurt.
14:26They perhaps did not anticipate the level of violence that could have escalated.
14:31But now that it has, remember the reinforcement would be called in very, very soon.
14:35Harvinder Wilk is with us.
14:36Sir, now tell me how many of your people are anticipating this huge action?
14:41Look, when there is a lot of issues, it's always expected that something could happen.
14:46So, we were fully prepared.
14:57But we are taking over the situation.
15:00Taking over the situation?
15:02Sir, reinforcements?
15:09So, what we can try and tell you is, now, if you see the lights are really off.
15:15But again, as I told you, the situation is very serious on ground.
15:20Several of these vehicles now, because remember these are truck owners, they would be worried.
15:25They are ferrying luggage and belongings, and this is where it's trade.
15:31And this is National Highway, and this has been closed for over 20 hours now.
15:36Several of them were closed, especially at night when things started to go wrong at around 2 o'clock.
15:41But majorly, from 6 onwards, again, there was a big blockade.
15:47And since then, these vehicles haven't really moved.
15:50But clearly, this is a sign of escalation.
15:53And Punjab police personnel, we were speaking to top officers, who were saying that they didn't want any sort of
16:00an escalation,
16:01simply on account that these were students.
16:05But now that they have been asked to really resort to that particular situation,
16:12perhaps there would be an answer coming in from Punjab police and obviously identifying several of these students.
16:17Perhaps those ones who have taken law into their own hands.
16:21Now, several of these students said that we are not the ones, there are outsiders there.
16:25But that, when things like this happen, when violence happens, when cops get injured,
16:30the sign is very clear that several of these students could be indulging in violence.
16:35So they have to be identified.
16:36Something that they wanted, Rashmi Mittal, who's the chancellor of LPU,
16:42to give an assurance that no FIR or no action would be pressed against them.
16:46Now, look at those Punjab police personnel making a dash.
16:50And remember, this is, as we've been reporting throughout, is a sign of escalation.
16:57And this is going to be a long night as far as Punjab police is concerned.
17:02You were talking about how the goalpost has been changing for these students.
17:06They wanted an FIR at the end of the day.
17:08Of course, there are several other demands, but the primary demand was the identification of the accused,
17:13which the police is still working on.
17:14They formed an SIT to, in fact, probe into the matter.
17:17And now an FIR has been registered.
17:20Even though there were speculations about whether this entire matter has been triggered off from a rumor or not,
17:26end of the day, the line is an FIR has been registered.
17:30Then why the need to resort to such violent tactics by the students?
17:36If you've gotten a chance to speak to the students there, what do they have to say?
17:44So what we can tell you is that there were different goalposts, because in the morning they started with an
17:49FIR identification of the accused.
17:51They wanted justice.
17:53That's the slogan which we heard throughout the day.
17:55But what really happened is that once that was done, they said they wanted an SIT, they wanted a student
18:01participation.
18:02Now, this was largely a leaderless protest.
18:05So what really happened was they picked up five students based on the broader, larger group of students who were
18:10there.
18:11And then those students were taken inside the campus to the particular area.
18:16Again, they also identified the class, the hostel, they were taken there.
18:22Again, this is where what we can tell you is the situation.
18:26You see now, several of these vehicles will be asked to go.
18:30These are people who are not really aware what has happened.
18:33See now.