A Muslim law student at SAM Global University in Bhopal has alleged that he and a fellow student were beaten by Bajrang Dal members at the university’s Garba event on Friday evening, while an FIR filed by a Bajrang Dal member names the student among the accused.
Sameer Alam, 24, is a final-year law student from Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. He says he went to the Garba event on October 16 with Masoom Raza, a first-year B.Tech student. Entry required a pass costing Rs 200. Alam said he and other Muslim students were wary of going because of the political climate. He alleged that the university pressured students to attend by warning of fines, attendance cuts and trouble with exams. He also alleged that Muslim faculty members had been told beforehand not to come. Millat Times, which first reported the account, said it could not independently verify these claims.
According to Alam, Bajrang Dal members entered the campus at about 8 pm, went towards the stage and told people they described as having a “jihadi mentality” to leave within five minutes. When he and Raza tried to go, he said, they were stopped near the gate and asked their names. After they told their names, he alleged, they were abused, had their shirts torn and were beaten for around ten minutes. He said he lost a wallet holding Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000 in the melee. The two escaped by climbing over a boundary wall after a faculty member stepped in, he said, and went back to their lodging, about 10 kilometres from the campus.
The FIR registered in the case tells a different account. An FIR was registered at Bilkhiriya police station on October 17 at 5:19 pm, on a complaint by Pushparaj Yadav, who describes himself as a Bajrang Dal office-bearer. He said he heard that objectionable dancing and film songs were part of the Garba programme, went to the venue with other Bajrang Dal members and objected to it. He alleged that a clash followed in which he and his associates were beaten, abused and threatened, and he named Alam in connection with it. The FIR lists sections 296(b), 131, 115(2), 351(3) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. These are the complainant’s allegations, as recorded in the FIR.
Other reports describe the event differently. A video of Bajrang Dal workers slapping a young man at the venue has gone viral. Haribhoomi reported that two Muslim youths were held by Bajrang Dal workers and handed over to police, who alleged they entered the pandal wearing a tilak. The same report said the two were not students of the college, and that Hindu groups demanded an FIR against the youths and the organisers. Alam rejects this and says both he and Raza are students of the university.
Alam also alleged that a Bajrang Dal member posted on social media from outside the police station while filing the complaint, and used his Instagram username, “Sameer Sheikh”. “I don’t know how they got to know my Instagram handle name,” he said.
Alam said he tried to contact the university on the morning of October 17 to ask for an explanation, but that the administration did not reach out to the affected students or act. Millat Times said it called university director Kopal Saluja, who did not answer, and no response had arrived at the time of writing. Bhopal Police have not commented publicly on the allegations or on any arrests made so far.
