Kashmiri students thrashed outside Mewar University in Chittorgarh district

 Eight Kashmiri youth, studying at Mewar University in Chittorgarh district of Rajasthan were allegedly attacked on Wednesday night by a group of locals.

Among the eight students, four managed to escape with minor bruises whereas four others sustained more serious injuries after they were attacked in the market of Gangrar village, 2 km's from the varsity.

The students had gone to purchase fruits and groceries but were instead attacked by the locals, apparently in response to the heckling of police personnel during the recent parliamentarian elections in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir.

"On Wednesday night around eight students went to the nearby market to buy a few things. In the market, local boys abused us and mentioned the incident in which locals had thrashed CRPF in Budgam district. We tried to explain them, but they were in no mood to hear and suddenly started thrashing all of us," Tauseef Qureshi, a student of third year B. Pharma and one of the eight students told DH over the phone.

"This looked like a pre-meditated attack, as the local boys cornered us at three places and started beating us with bat and wickets. They also abused us", Tauseef added.

Following the incident, students from the varsity, a majority of whom were Kashmiris, staged a protest to demand action against the local youth. Police also arrived on the scene and helped escort the injured to the hospital.

"Police reached the incident and two of the injured were sent to the hospital.There are minor injuries and doctors have ruled out any major injury," Dinesh Kumar, Station House Officer of Gangrar Police station and also the investigating officer told DH.

Five out of eight students are pursuing LLB course while three others are enrolled in B. Pharma Second/Third year. Four who sustained injuries have been identified as Adil Ahmed Peerzada, Saqib, Javaid, Suhail, while  Rehan, Touseef, Sakib and Rouf ul Islam managed to escape.

 There have also been two similar such instances where Kashmiri students of the same varsity reportedly attacked.

One was in the May 2016 when four Kashmiri students were beaten up over rumours of them cooking beef. In another incident, nine students from Jammu and Kashmir and a warden of Mewar University were arrested in April 2016 following clashes over India’s defeat in T20.