BANGALORE: After Northeasterners, it is now the turn of Kashmiris to be stereotyped in Bangalore. Two youngsters from Kashmir were seriously injured after being beaten up by other students at the city’s Ghousia College of Engineering on Saturday night.
Kashmiri students at the college allege that they were coerced to withdraw the FIR against the culprits, and are instead now having to live under duress.
On Thursday night, there was a minor altercation between a senior Kashmiri student and another person over the issue of ragging. Later that night, two Kashmiri students were allegedly beaten up with iron rods after other Kashmiris were locked up in their rooms.
Ishfaq Butt and Wasim Khan, who were seriously injured in the attack, were rushed to the hospital. Their rooms were also ransacked.
A representative of the Kashmiri students, who number around 30 at the college located on the city’s outskirts, told DNA: “The two were assaulted without any provocation. The group of students that attacked us is primarily from Bihar and they always abuse us, and accuse us of being terrorists.”
It all started earlier in the week at a seminar where Kashmiri students maintained that Kashmir has its own culture and identity. They were then accused by the detractor group of being “terrorists” and “anti-national”. Since then, the conflict has been escalating.
Some teachers are said to have attempted to bring about a compromise, in vain.
The Kashmiri students allege that they were forced to withdraw their FIR against the culprits at the behest of the police. “When we wanted to register a complaint, the police official called us terrorists and pushed us into a cell,” another student said.
Anupam Agrawal, Ramanagara SP, said, “They had a fight inside the college premises. None of them knew Kannada, and policemen dealing with the case could not understand their language clearly.”
Agrawal said: “The college authorities requested us not to take any action since the principal was out of station. On his return, the principal requested us to let the college itself resolve the conflict.”
A Kashmiri student, however, said, “The teachers who had supported us initially did a turnaround after meeting the police. Now many of them are imploring us to leave the hostels and find places for ourselves in Bangalore city.”
(DNA)
