T20 defeat plays out in colleges, 11 J&K students in jail

Inzmam is facing a case under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act. He has been accused of snatching the Tricolour from a girl student of his dental college after India lost the semi-final and burning it on a heater in his hostel room.

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The matter came to light when students and paramedical staff of the college and dental hospital went on strike and held a demonstration disrupting working of the college. They alleged that Inzmam had also thrashed another student, Vishwajeet, who had gone to get back the Tricolour from him.

BJP MLA from Nowshera Ravinder Raina visited the college and demanded slapping of the Public Safety Act against Inzmam. He felicitated students and doctors who had “brought the matter to the notice of college administration and the police”. Raina claimed that students and faculty members had told him that Inzmam, who had earlier too been rusticated, had been allowed to stay on at the hostel under pressure from a former Congress minister.

Of the 10 Mewar University students arrested in Chittorgarh, five are from Jammu and the remaining five from Kashmir. Police said they were arrested before the fight between them escalated.

Four Kashmiri students of the university had been arrested a few days ago after rumours that they had cooked beef in their hostel room. The students were released after they signed bonds of “good conduct”.

The scuffle began soon after India lost the match on Thursday. The Jammu students got into a heated argument with their Kashmiri counterparts, which led to a brawl in which two students from Jammu were injured.

“We received information of the scuffle and rushed to the university. The students were arrested before the situation escalated,” Chittorgarh SP P K Khamesara told The Sunday Express. The students were held under Section 151 of the CrPC for breach of peace, and also face charges of disturbing public order. They were brought before a magistrate on Friday but their bail applications could not be processed.

The injured students were released from hospital after a brief stay.

Playing down the arrests, Mewar University media liaison officer Harish Gurnani said, “It was a minor thing. Young students are passionate and during a cricket match everyone gets excited, so it led to a small scuffle. There was nothing communal or otherwise to it.”