Punjab's LPU suspends classes after student protests over alleged rape turn violent

Punjab's Lovely Professional University (LPU) has suspended classes starting Monday and postponed mid-term examinations after a protest over an alleged rape turned violent on Sunday with protesters clashing with the police and vandalism being reported.

The private university located in the city of Phagwara witnessed massive student unrest after claims spread on social media that a female university student was allegedly raped within the campus premises by an outsider and had later died by suicide.

The protests grew to be violent when the protesters clashed with the police, pelted stones at the security personnel, smashed windows and set fire to some objects within the university complex, reports said.

Some students later claimed in social media posts that the vandals were not students, but outsiders.

Heavy police deployment

The university has suspended regular classes for 10 days, news agency ANI cited a statement from LPU as saying.

The statement said students could travel to their hometowns during the suspension of classes and advised those who stay back to remain in their hostels or places of accommodation and avoid any unnecessary movement. The statement also called on students to avoid involvement in the unrest.

Over 2,000 police personnel were deployed to ensure security on the campus, reports quoted the Additional Director General of Police Fayaz Farooqui as saying.

The protesters also blocked the national highway between Jalandhar and Phagwara highway early Sunday, leading to traffic disruptions.

On Monday, police said that the situation had been brought under control and traffic movement on the highway had been restored.

Claims of rape remain unverified

Meanwhile, the police are yet to confirm whether a student was raped within LPU's campus. They have launched an investigation to examine the facts of the incident.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has taken note of the situation and has directed the Director General of Police to visit the campus, reports said on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Punjab State Women Commision is seeking a detailed report on the alleged rape, ANi reported.

What has LPU said?

The LPU has denied that the alleged rape took place, calling the claims "false, baseless and fabricated rumors".

The university on Sunday posted a video with three female students who it said reside in the girls' hostel room where the alleged incident is claimed to have taken place.

The video purportedly shows the girls denying that there had been a rape, with one of them asking the police to stop visiting the room repeatedly.

However, media reports on Monday said that the same girls later appear in a separate purported video, claiming that they were instructed on what to say in the statement. They then allegedly claim that their clips were "trimmed" and aused without their consent.