Tribal student, son of BJP leader, ‘thrashed and bullied’ by university seniors in Surat; FIR lodged

No arrests have been made yet.

According to details from Ankleshwar GIDC police, the teenager was waylaid by a group of students outside the university campus on Monday. Tanuj is a second-year B Sc (Chemistry) student of the university situated in Kosamba area.

According to the police complaint, a few of these students had asked Tanuj to remove the nameplate declaring his caste name from the bonnet of his car. When Tanuj, who was accompanied by three of his friends in the SUV, refused to pay heed to them, the accused students, following an altercation, thrashed the teenager and removed the name plate from the bonnet, the complaint added. The tension was defused with the intervention of a few other students.

However, after an hour, as Tanuj left the campus in his car to drop off another student at Ankleshwar GIDC, the accused students followed him in six cars, waylaid him, and thrashed him again after pulling him out of the vehicle, the complaint stated. Tanuj somehow escaped from the spot and contacted the Ankleshwar GIDC police station and handed an application to the police officers against the accused students, the complaint added.

A purported video of Tanuj being thrashed near ESIC hospital surfaced on Monday evening and was shared among the students of the university as well as various social media groups of the tribal community.

Police sources said that on Tuesday, when Tanuj returned to college, he was again intercepted by the accused students during recess. They bullied and mocked him, telling him that police would not take any action against them, the sources added.

Tanuj informed his father about the bullying after which a large number of tribal people reached the Ankleshwar police station following which the offence was registered.

Police have booked 19 students, residents of Ankleshwar and Bharuch, under BNS sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace), 351(2) (criminal intimidation), 189(2) (unlawful assembly), 190 (offence committed by members of unlawful assembly), 191(2) (offence of rioting) and 126 (2) (offence of wrongful restraint), and various other sections of Atrocity Act on Tuesday night.

The accused included Manthan Patel, Khush Gadhiya, Deep Shiyani Tirth Patel, Meet Dhanani, Rudra Patel, Krish Patel, Param Patel, Aditya Manani and Param Patel – all third-year B Sc students at the private university.

Talking to The Indian Express, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Tanuj’s father Fatehsinh Vasava said, “I have been in the political field for the last 20 years. I had strictly told my son that no complaint against him should come from the college or any other person, and that he should concentrate entirely on his studies. My son acted on my instructions, and he was bullied and threatened by a group of senior students who hurled casteist remarks at him and forcibly removed the Vasava name plate from his car. I have also reported the incident to the college authorities. My son has lodged a complaint. Let the police take action on their end.”

Ankleshwar GIDC Police Inspector R H Wala said, “We have registered an offence against a group of 19 students, of whom 16 have been identified. The accused students had allegedly made casteist remarks on the victim student. Investigation is underway.”

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