ABVP Members Thrash Professor, Blacken Face Alleging Discrepancy in University Electoral Rolls; Incident Caught on Camera

Rajkot, Jun 27: Members of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), thrashed a professor of Krantiguru Shaymji Krishna Verma Kachchh University (KSKVKU) in Gujarat's Rajkot on Tuesday, alleging discrepancy in the university electoral rolls.

According to the university’s Vice-Chancellor Chandrasinh Jadeja, a group of ABVP supporters stormed into the classroom where chemistry department's professor Girin Baxi was delivering a lecture. They blackened his face, assaulted him and paraded him to the chamber of university registrar.

Baxi, who heads an election related committee, was rushed to a hospital where his condition is stated to be normal. ABVP activists accused Baxi of being biased against them during voter registration process. The Vice-Chancellor, however, denied their charges.

“They claimed that voter registration forms submitted by ABVP supporters were selectively rejected by Prof Baxi. However, prima facie, their claim was found to baseless as all the forms were rejected as per the rules. Nonetheless, we had scheduled a hearing on the issue at 4.30 pm on Tuesday. But the ABVP supporters became aggressive and attacked Prof Baxi,” VC Jadeja told a newspaper.

“They stormed into Prof Baxi’s classroom and demanded explanation why some forms were rejected. When the professor asked them to wait outside and informed them that a hearing was scheduled in the evening, the assailants dragged him out of the classroom and threw some chemical on his face. They, then paraded him to the chamber of university registrar. They also threatened the registrar that he too would face the same fate if their demands were not met,” Inspector Vikram Kothiya said.

The university has filed a complaint in this regard and their teaching staff unanimously condemned the incident. Baxi was assigned the task of preparing voters’ list for election to the senate of the university, due on July 22. Senate is the highest decision-making body of a varsity in Gujarat.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 27, 2018 04:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).