Three Amity students held for clash on campus over parking

NOIDA: Three students of Amity University were arrested on Wednesday evening for allegedly thrashing three others following an argument with a fellow student over parking. The arrested students - Mayank Tanwar, Chetan Rao and Shiv Kumar - were booked under stringent sections of rioting and criminal intimidation on August 28.
The arrests followed several social media posts backing the three students who were allegedly beaten up - Harsh, Madhav and Diwakar Tyagi - and demanding the arrest of the accused.
Trouble started on August 28 when Harsh allegedly drove his car from the wrong side into the university parking lot and asked a woman student to move an SUV in which she was sitting. She refused to do so, and this led an argument. A few minutes later, the woman and her friends allegedly barged into a classroom and asked the teacher to allow Harsh and Madhav to come with them. This was followed by a clash, in which two groups of students hurled chairs at each other.
Following the clash, an FIR was lodged against the woman, her four friends and 15-20 unknown persons. A day later, she went to Sector 39 police station and alleged that the argument over parking had broken out because she had been touched inappropriately and pushed to the ground by Harsh, Madhav and Diwakar. A counter-FIR on molestation charges was lodged against the trio.
This triggered outrage on social media, with posts and videos backing Harsh, Madhav and Diwakar, and demanding that the woman be rusticated for framing them .
In one of the videos that went viral, which police later found to be fake, a youth who identified himself as Diwakar said the three students were beaten up with sticks and rods twice on August 28. It also said Madhav was admitted in ICU. Hashtags such as #JusticeforHarsh and #JusticeforMadhav started doing the rounds. Some Twitter users tagged Noida Police, UP Police and the SSP. The social media campaign led to a series of protests both inside and outside the university campus.
Harsh and the two others did not take part in the protests, but they were said to be at home.
Police later put out a notice that the videos were fake. SP (city) Vineet Jaiswal said the three students were arrested because there was "strong evidence" supporting the claim that they had assaulted Harsh and his friends. "CCTV footage shows Mayank, Shiv and Chetan arriving in a Skoda and Scorpio and assaulting the trio. They were interrogated and arrested later," he said.
Asked about the woman's allegations, Jaiswal said that so far, the police had not received any clues from CCTV footage.
The university, which has suspended 11 students in connection with the clash, termed it a "case of personal altercation". "There was a personal altercation between a boy and a girl which was dealt immediately by university officials. Later, both individuals filed police complaints against each other and the police are investigating. The university has also set up a proctorial discipline committee to look into the matter. Since this is a sensitive issue, we request all not to escalate," Amity University said in a statement.