Pune, Apr 11 (PTI) The Pune police have formed special teams to nab the persons, who allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old male Muslim student at the university here, accusing him of engaging in ‘love jihad’, an top official said.
The incident took place on Sunday afternoon when the victim was accompanying two female students on the campus of the state-run Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU), he said.
‘Love jihad’ is a term used by right-wing activists and outfits to allege a conspiracy by Muslim men to convert Hindu women to Islam through marriage.
“The student, along with two female friends, was returning after having a meal when four to five unidentified persons on motorcycles approached them on the university campus,” another official said.
They started questioning the student and asked him to show his Aadhaar card, he said.
In his complaint, the victim, who is a student of a skill development course in the university, alleged that after seeing his name on the identity card, one of the persons asked whether he had come to the university to engage in ‘love jihad’ and assaulted him and a Hindu male friend who was also present there, the police said.
Talking to PTI on Wednesday, Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar said, “We have taken a serious note of the incident. The accused have now been traced based on the CCTV footage and special teams have been formed to nab them.” “The accused hail from some other district. Teams have been dispatched and all efforts are being made to nab them,” he added.
The SPPU registrar, Vijay Khare, earlier said the university has formed a fact-finding committee to investigate the incident and asked security personnel deployed in the institution to ensure such incidents of students being threatened by anti-social elements do not recur. PTI SPK NP
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