Jalandhar Police Commissioner Satinder Singh emerged as one of the senior officers involved in handling the situation at Lovely Professional University (LPU) after a student protest over an alleged sexual assault turned violent on Sunday.
The situation had escalated through the day, with students blocking National Highway-44 and clashes breaking out between protesters and police and the unrest later moved inside the university campus, where officials reported stone-pelting and damage to property and police vehicles.
As the situation became more serious, a heavy police force led by ADGP M F Farooqui entered the campus late Sunday night. Satinder Singh, along with DIG Jalandhar Range Naveen Singla and Kapurthala SSP Gaurav Toora, accompanied the force during the operation and flag march carried out on the campus.
With more than 2,000 police personnel deployed, the focus shifted towards restoring law and order, checking the safety of students and preventing further escalation and the large deployment also covered the university gates and surrounding areas.
By Monday morning, Singh said the situation had improved. One of the immediate issues was the disruption on NH-44, which had remained blocked for more than 15 hours, and traffic movement was restored during the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, and Singh said the situation was peaceful.
Singh also directly addressed reports about disturbances inside the university hostels and he said police had checked all hostel facilities and found no such problem. According to him, reports of disturbances inside the hostels were rumours, while the overall situation had returned to normal.
He further said that remaining issues would be addressed through discussions with students rather than allowing the situation to escalate again, Singh also appealed to families to remain assured about the safety of students on campus.
“Overall, the atmosphere is fine, and any minor issues will be addressed,” Singh said, adding that families should be informed that all students were safe and there was no cause for concern.
The improvement in the situation also came as LPU suspended regular classes for 10 days from September 28 and postponed its mid-term examinations until further notice, and several students began leaving the campus for their homes after the announcement.
Police continued a large-scale deployment around the university on Monday as students left the campus and authorities worked to maintain the calm. The alleged sexual assault that triggered the protests remains under investigation, police have registered a case against an unidentified person and constituted an SIT, while the university has denied that the alleged incident took place on campus.
