In Meerut, college dons hold class with guns

Teachers at Meerut Government College have added an item to their teaching aids: a weapon for self-defence. Those who have licensed weapons are now bringing them to the college after a student fired at a professor on Tuesday.

‘‘All professors who have licensed weapons have decided to bring them along to the college. Some of us have pistols, others have single-barrel guns that they brought today,’’ said Sociology Professor Amarjit Singh, who was the latest target. ‘‘We have no trust in the police…they can’t even control eve-teasing here, how will they protect us!’’

‘‘Students are going out of hand…we will tolerate no nuisance now. We too will intimidate them if they threaten us,’’ said the Professor. The college is known for incidents of violence, and last year during admissions, a student, Nishant, had been murdered on the campus.

Now the college has turned into a virtual war zone with the PAC being stationed at the gates. Orders were issued last evening by District Magistrate Chandra Bhanu to search and rid the hostels of all ‘‘undesirable students’’ staying there for several years. The students are now up in arms against the administration as well.

The immediate reason for the steps was an incident during admissions to the under-graduate courses in the college on Tuesday. It is learnt that Professor Amarjit Singh — along with colleagues Manoj Aggrawal, Vinod Singh, Savita Verma and Alka Rastogi — was sitting in his office conducting admissions for BA first year. ‘‘Around 11:30 am, a notorious student, Rajnish, Ahalwat, accompanied by three youngsters, stormed inside the room after pushing aside the peon and started intimidating me, asking me to admit them,’’ recalled Singh.

Singh refused to admit them without the necessary documents. ‘‘Ahalwat started arguing with me. Other professors tried to intervene but then he pulled out a gun and aimed at my head, asking if I would do the job or not. As I refused, he fired. The shot missed me by a whisker. All the professors then tried to catch the four men but they dropped the pistol and ran away,’’ says Singh.

The family of Professor Vinod Singh then reached the college with a gun. The professors struck work and decided to boycott admissions even as the culprits managed to flee from the college. ‘‘We immediately reached the college and have lodged an FIR on the complaint of Principal Dr S K Aggrawal against the four persons on charges of criminal intimidation and attempt to murder. We are looking for them and their pistol has been seized,’’ SSP Meerut Rajiv Ranjan Verma says.

The admission process was resumed today under heavy security. Trouble is brewing since the District Magistrate’ order for throwing out ‘‘undesirable elements’’ from the hostel. ‘‘We have issued notices to students staying in the hostels for several years after passing out,’’ says Principal S K Aggrawal. The students today carried out a huge protest march outside the DC’s office. ‘‘We will protest against this injustice,’’ said college student union president Sanjay Yadav.