Two students injured during clashes over ‘The Kerala Story’ in Jammu

At least two medical students were injured when clashes erupted over The Kerala Story movie at Government Medical College (GMC) Jammu on Saturday.

Reports said the scuffle broke out late Sunday night when a student shared a link of the controversial movie in the official WhatsApp group of the first-year students, which was objected to by one of his batch-mates, stating that the group is meant for academic purposes only.

The student, who had objected to the sharing of the link, was later assaulted inside the hostel along with his friend, leading to a scuffle as more and more students along with some outsiders joined the ruckus, reports added.

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The injured students were identified as Umar Farooq, a first-year student from Kashmir’s Budgam district, and Haseeb Ahmad, a final-year student from Jammu’s Bhaderwah town.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jammu Chandan Kohli said an incident of scuffle was reported between some students and outsiders in GMC hostel Jammu and an investigation into the matter is under way.

A group of students, many of them from Kashmir, have been protesting on the campus since Sunday night demanding that the students involved in the violence be rusticated and outsiders arrested.

“We haven’t gone to our rooms since last evening,” they said. “We are afraid after what happened to us yesterday. The college authorities and police should ensure that we feel safe inside the campus.”

The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti urged Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to take cognisance of the violence and ensure that the culprits are punished.

“Shocking that GOI promotes & encourages violence through movies stoking communal fires. The blood of innocents is being spilled to quench BJPs insatiable thirst for petty electoral dividends. Request @OfficeOfLGJandK ji to take cognisance & punish the culprits,” she tweeted.

The controversial movie claims to depict how women from Kerala were converted to Islam and recruited by the terrorist group, the Islamic State.