Nagpur: A student from Jammu and Kashmir studying at a pharmacy college in Nagpur was thrashed by a group of local residents, police said on Tuesday.
A motive was not yet clear, they said.
The incident took place on Sunday evening in the Kamptee area of the Maharashtra city, but no complaint has been received so far from the victim, said a senior police official.
Explaining the sequence of events, he said two first-year Bachelor of Pharmacy students, hailing from Doda town and Jammu, were returning to their hostel when one of them went to answer nature’s call, while the other stood on the roadside waiting for him.
At the same time, a group of local residents came to the spot and started questioning the student standing on the roadside and sought to know from where he had come. As he was unable to answer their questions, the residents started thrashing him, said the official.
The other student returned and informed the residents that both were students of a local college. After this, the locals allowed them to go, he said.
One of the pupils later informed about the incident to J&K Students Association office-bearer Nasir Khuehami, who posted about it on his X account and urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to intervene in the matter.
Talking to PTI, the student ruled out a hate motive behind the attack and said it was their first year in Nagpur and they did not know the area, where the incident took place, well.
The student said the incident took place at around 6.15 pm when they stopped at a road in Kamptee. Two to three persons came to the spot and asked them who they were and from where they hailed.
The student said he told them they hailed from Jammu and Kashmir, but “anti-social elements” started beating them.
Meanwhile, national convenor of the J&K Students Association Khuehami, in a post on social media site X, said a Jammu and Kashmir student was brutally assaulted in Nagpur.
“The student from Doda area of J&K was brutally thrashed without any rhyme & reason by fringe elements,” he said.
Khuehami said according to the victim, two to three goons attacked him.
“Some of the assailants knocked him down and started punching him on the face and stomach, and hitting him on his knees. He was slapped 8-9 times on the face, neck, back, and arms,” the student leader wrote.
Khuehami requested Chief Minister Fadnavis, who holds the home portfolio, to intervene in the matter and take strict action against the culprits.
Khuehami said after he brought to the notice of the Maharashtra CMO about the Kamptee incident, he got a call from IGP (Law & Order) Manoj Kumar Sharma, who took details about the incident from him and also the phone number of the victim.
He maintained that the IGP assured him strict legal action will be taken against the culprits.
