Pune university student beaten up over 'love jihad' claim; cops, varsity launch probe
Pune, Apr 9: A 19-year-old Muslim student of a university in Maharashtra's Pune city has been allegedly beaten up by five unidentified persons who accused him of engaging in "love jihad", police said on Tuesday.
The incident took place on Sunday afternoon when the male student was accompanying two female students on the campus of the state-run Savitribai Phule Pune University, an official from Chatushringi police station said.
The police have registered a case against unidentified persons and are trying to identify the culprits, he said.
The university authorities said they have set up a committee for a probe into the incident.
'Love jihad' is a term used by right-wing activists and outfits to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam through marriage.
The male student, along with the two female friends, was returning after having a meal when four-five unidentified persons on motorbikes approached them on the university campus, the official said.
They started questioning the student and asked him to show his Aadhaar card.
In his complaint, the student alleged that after seeing his name on the identity card, one of the persons asked whether he had come to the university to engage in "love jihad" and assaulted him and a Hindu male friend who was also present there, the police said.
"We have registered a complaint against unidentified persons under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and efforts are underway to trace them with the help of CCTV footage," the official said.
The complainant is a student of a skill development course in the university, he added.
The university's registrar, Vijay Khare, said they have formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the incident and asked security personnel deployed in the institution to ensure such incidents of students being threatened by anti-social elements do not recur.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Shame Ambedkar followers fell for Cong narrative of BJP changing Constitution: Rijiju
Mumbai, Sep 6: Union Minister for Minority Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Friday said it was a shame followers of Babasaheb Ambedkar fell for the Congress' fake narrative that the BJP would change the Constitution if it won 400 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
BJP leaders have often said the narrative cost them dearly in the Lok Sabha polls, results of which were announced on June 4. The party lost its majority in the Lok Sabha and ended up with just 240 seats.
Speaking at a 'Samvidhan Jagar Yatra', which has been organised by the BJP across the state to counter this narrative of the opposition, Rijiju said, "The Congress has consistently marginalised the legacy of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. A review of parliamentary records reveals that even the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Rajiv Gandhi, who secured more than 400 Lok Sabha seats in the 1980s, opposed reservations."
"It is a matter of shame that individuals who follow Dr Ambedkar are susceptible to the narrative propagated by the Congress that the BJP would change the Constitution. Even one person who believes in the teachings of Dr Ambedkar but votes for the Congress is a matter of shame for all of us. It is incomprehensible," he asserted.
The treatment meted out to Babasaheb Ambedkar by the Congress was not a 1000-year-old episode but something that is properly documented as it took place just some decades ago, he added.
"Despite this, the Congress said the BJP will change the Constitution and lakhs of people from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes fell prey to the narrative. We are educated people who have seen the world. How can we be so gullible? I wish Babasaheb Ambedkar had written a book about the humiliation he faced from the Congress," Rijiju said.
The Union minister said the government will announce special economic packages for areas associated with the legendary social icon and jurist, including infrastructure, schools, hostels and training centres.
"I will visit those places and announce such projects. There will be classrooms, hostels, skill development and training centres dedicated to women. The financial package has already been designed," he said.
The Congress had turned the Union minority affairs ministry into the "Muslim affairs ministry" though there are six minority communities, namely Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Parsi, in the country, he said.
"During the Congress, the head of the ministry was always a Muslim. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Buddhist like me is heading the ministry. A Sikh heads the National Commission for Minority Affairs," he told the gathering.
