Ghaziabad: Christ University on Saturday filed a complaint at Nandgram police station against a group of ABVP activists, who gheraoed its Ghaziabad campus for the second day on Saturday to demand promotion for 13 law students held back from the fourth year because of backlogs.The group had descended on the university on Friday afternoon. The university, in its complaint, accused them of trespassing, vandalism and assaulting women security personnel. The university said the group damaged gates and flowerpots, and also blocked a public road, disrupting traffic and trapping students inside the campus for about an hour.In its complaint, it sought an FIR and identification of all accused through CCTV footage. The university named one person in its complaint. He had in a video identified himself as ABVP member Tanish Sisodia.“On Aug 21, about 20-25 persons, who identified themselves as members of ABVP, forcibly entered the Christ University’s Delhi-NCR campus. The group damaged the main gate of the university and illegally entered the campus. After entering the campus, they created a ruckus and commotion, engaged in disruptive activities, and disrupted the normal functioning of the university,” university director Father Vinod Michael said. The complaint states the incident created an atmosphere of “fear and panic” among students.On Saturday, ABVP supporters continued their sit-in outside the university gate, blocking the main entrance in support of the 13 students who had failed their first- and second-year examinations and were seeking promotion. “We will not move from here until the university agrees to our demand,” ABVP district organiser and secretary Gaurav Kshatrya said.University officials had earlier told TOI that the 13 students at the centre of the protest had accumulated significant backlogs — some having failed in their first and second years, others carrying six to eight pending subjects. Officials said none of the protesters outside the gate was a student; they had been called in by the affected students to pressure the management into making an exception to its attendance and promotion rules.A video circulating on social media, meanwhile, showed some students pleading with the protesters to reopen the university’s gate so they could move freely in and out of the campus. Students were also heard telling the protesters that the rules applied equally to all, and that many others had cleared supplementary backlog examinations to earn promotion to the final year.“Movement of college buses was disrupted throughout the day, and students are now feeling threatened. This sort of behaviour is not encouraged at any educational institution,” Akhilesh Tiwari, head of administration at the university, said.A university official said students across all six campuses of the institution had backlogs and were subject to the same rules, which were declared before admission. “Making special changes for a few students will also raise questions on the transparency of the university’s code of conduct,” the official said. The university said an examination committee would be constituted to examine the protesters’ demands, with a report expected by next week.A senior officer at Nandgram police station said they had received the complaint. “All the allegations are being investigated, and further action will be taken based on the findings. We have also placed adequate police force around the campus as the protest continued on Saturday. There is no law and order situation on the campus,” he added. No FIR has been filed as yet.
