Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, the president of the Apni Party, expressed his grave concern about the reports that several nursing students at Punjab’s Desh Bhagat University (DBU) had been beaten up by the police while they were protesting what they believed to be an unjust decision by the college administration on Friday.
In his statement, Bukhari claimed that he had been informed by the affected students—including girls from Jammu and Kashmir—that they had been assaulted by police during their nonviolent protest against the college administration’s decision to transfer their admissions to a different nursing school that was not accredited by the Indian Nursing Council (INC). For the last two weeks, these students have been demonstrating against what they perceive to be an unfair judgement.
“It seems odd that the students, who have already finished their third year of study at DBU and are about to begin their fourth, are being moved to another institution. Even more shocking is the allegation that the college administration offered these students an ultimatum: either comply with the transfer order or be reimbursed and sent home. Such behaviour by a college administration is certainly unacceptable, he said.
Bukhari advised Manoj Sinha, the lieutenant governor of J&K, to raise this issue with the Punjab administration in order to guarantee that J&K students don’t face unnecessary hardships while attending DBU.
He stated, “I request LG Manoj Sinha Ji to personally look into the matter and raise it with the higher authorities in Punjab to ensure the safety of students from Jammu and Kashmir and to prevent them from experiencing any unjustified hardship during their academic journey at the college.”
He underlined the need of fully hearing the protesting students’ complaints in order to provide them with the facilities and fairness they require.
