Varsity reopens, students organise peace march

Varanasi: Banaras Hindu University remained calm as it re-opened on Thursday and students carried out peace march on the campus. On late Wednesday night, the district magistrate and SSP had talked to the students staging a protest at BHU gate and convinced them to call off their stir.
The varsity had been closed by BHU administration on Wednesday to avoid any untoward incident on campus following the tension sparked by the murder of former student Gaurav Singh on Tuesday evening.

The students started arriving from morning to attend classes but the attendance, however, was less in comparison to normal days. Some students collected at Vishwanath temple and Madhuban and marched towards BHU gate with an appeal to maintain peace.

When TOI contacted the vice-chancellor Rakesh Bhatnagar, he refused to comment on the action being taken by university administration. He, however, claimed that classes have started and everything was fine on campus.

A group of students had been sitting on a protest near BHU main gate demanding the arrest of chief proctor and the resignation of vice-chancellor.

District magistrate Surendra Singh and SSP Anand Kulkarni held talks with the vice-chancellor and other BHU officials and then talked to protesters.

“We told them that the varsity administration has sought 72 hours to look into the administrative lapses of proctorial board, if any, and initiate remedial action. The protesters then called off their stir,” the SSP said. The chief proctor Royana Singh, who has also been named as an accused in the FIR, remained on leave while her phone was switched off.

A large number of students alleged that the role of proctorial board had not been impartial in the rivalry of students’ groups.

BHU administration has been asked to cover each and every corner of the campus with CCTV network, the DM said.