Policemen charged with assaulting and looting journalists covering the protest

The Uttar Pradesh police on Monday lodged an FIR against 1,000 unknown students of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) on charges of arson and rioting during the protest in the campus on Saturday night.

A case was registered at the Lanka police station here under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including 148 (rioting with armed weapon), 307 (attempt to murder), 353 (criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of duties), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 436 (destruction of immovable property).

The police have also lodged a case against policemen on charges of assaulting and looting the journalists covering the protest on Saturday night. A delegation of the U.P. State accredited correspondents committee had apprised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of the incident, after which he instructed the Varanasi divisional commissioner to probe the case. The four injured journalists were identified as Alok Pandey, Kaushalendra, Amitesh Srivastava, and Arshad Khan.

Meanwhile, the State also removed three additional city magistrates, Manoj Kumar Singh, Sushil Kumar Gaund, and Jagdamma Prasad Singh, and two policemen, in connection with the baton-charge on the protesters in which several students, including girls, suffered injuries.

Station Officer of Lanka police station Rajiv Singh was transferred to the police lines, while the Circle Officer of Bhelupur, Nivesh Katiyar, has been replaced by Ayodhya Singh.

The students were protesting against an alleged case of molestation and had demanded that the Vice-Chancellor come in person to the dharna site to assure them that action would be taken against the culprits.

According to the police, some elements among the protesters engaged in arson, damaged public property, and threw stones at university officials and policemen.