Student groups protesting gang rape of minor girl clash in Jodhpur, stones pelted
Jodhpur (PTI): Two student groups protesting against the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old Dalit girl at a university hockey ground here pelted stones at each other on Monday, prompting police to use force to disperse them, officials said.
The day was marked by a series of demonstrations in Jodhpur against the Sunday morning rape incident. Students affiliated with the NSUI assembled at the central office of the Jai Narayan Vyas University in the morning, demanding the installation of CCTV cameras and repairing of the boundary walls of the campuses.
They also shut the main gate of the university as part of their protest, the officials said. Later, when a group of ABVP students also reached the campus and tried to enter while slogans, an argument ensued.
The argument soon turned violent and stones were pelted, following which police personnel swung into action and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse them, the officials said, adding three students were detained.
They said students associated with the ABVP also held a protest at the police commissioner's office against the police statement that those accused in the gang rape case were associated with the RSS' student wing.
The officials further said that several students of the KN Girls College also assembled at the district collectorate during the day, demanding that security measures at the college be improved.
Further, several Dalit organisations too took to the streets, demanding strict action against the accused in the gang rape case and compensation to the family of the victim.
Meanwhile, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhwat condemned the incident and slammed the police for saying the accused were linked with a political group.
"Under pressure from the government, police associated the accused with a specific political group without any evidence," he alleged.
The minor girl who had eloped with her boyfriend was allegedly gang-raped by three college students in front of him in Jodhpur in the early hours of Sunday.
The three accused, who thrashed the victim's boyfriend before taking turns to rape her, were arrested hours after the incident.
A senior police official on Sunday said the accused were canvassing for a student leader seeking a ticket from the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) for student union elections.
The ABVP, however, denied any links with the accused.
An FIR was registered under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, IPC and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
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Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
