After attack, Gujarat varsity shifts foreign students to new hostel

The Gujarat university authorities have decided to shift foreign students to a new hostel building in the next three days following the attack on Muslim students by a group of people at the University premises late Saturday night. Two foreign students, one from Sri Lanka and the other from Tajikistan, were severely injured in the incident and had to be hospitalised. The new hostel, originally meant for Non-Resident Indian (NRI) students, was constructed a year ago but has not been occupied so far.

Meanwhile, the Ahmedabad police have arrested three more persons -- Kshitij Pandey (22), Jitendra Patel (31) and Sahil Dudhtiuva (21) -- in this case. On Sunday, two other persons, Hitesh Mewada and Bharat Patel, were arrested by the police. Keeping in mind the international implication of the incident, both the state government and the university have swung into action and an FIR was registered.

The university has asked the security agencies to deploy ex-armymen to strengthen the security for the students. Foreign students come to Gujarat University through Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). So far, there has been no separate hostel arrangement for foreign students.


On Saturday night, some miscreants had entered the premises of Block A of the hostel and assaulted Muslim students who were offering Namaz. As many as 75 foreign students stay in that block. Eye-witnesses said that around 10.30 pm "around 25 people entered the premises and questioned them on why they were offering Namaz in the hostel, and asked them to go to a mosque for the same". Following this, an argument broke out and the accused assaulted the students, resorted to stone pelting and damaged property. They ransacked the hostel rooms and the belongings of the foreign students.

Don't make us an Probe agency: Gujarat HC

Meanwhile, the Gujarat High Court on Monday said, don't make us an investigation agency while rejecting a request from a lawyer to take up as a suo motu PIL the attack on foreign students at state-run Gujarat University over the weekend.

The HC underlined that they are not police inspectors, emphasising their role as a constitutional court.