22 injured as GIMS students, GBU guards clash

NOIDA: An argument, allegedly over smoking, triggered a spat that spiralled into a clash between students of Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) and security guards at Gautam Buddha University (GBU) campus in Greater Noida late on Sunday night. According to the GIMS administration, 22 students suffered injuries in the clash.
Of the 33 people briefly detained after cops intervened, 15 were arrested, including 11 security guards and four first-year MBBS students. Two FIRs have been registered against at least 50 people on the basis of complaints by both sides, police said on Monday.
Videos, purportedly of the clash on the GBU campus, are circulating on social media. One shows dozens of men - many in what appears to be in a uniform - wielding sticks and smashing the windows of cars and other vehicles in an outdoor area. Another shows at least two men, dressed in civilian clothes, holding wooden sticks and trying to kick down a door.
As many as 300 GIMS students live in a hostel at the GBU campus as the medical institute, located some 300 metres away, doesn't have adequate space. The residential facility was allocated for GIMS students in 2015.
According to the GIMS administration, guards of Iron Man Security Services - an agency deployed by GBU - barged into Munshi Premchand Hostel on Sunday night and thrashed students. Four students were admitted to hospital with fractures and 18 others suffered minor injuries, it said.
Police said the scuffle began after some guards objected to smoking cigarettes in the hostel.
"After the argument, the guards returned with sticks," said Sarita Malik, SHO of Ecotech-1 police station.
GBU registrar Vishwas Tripathi said the guards were on a routine round, when one of them saw three students in an intoxicated condition outside the cricket stadium. "After they objected, one of the three students charged at a guard. Then they called 30-40 more students from the hostel. One guard locked himself in the washroom of the stadium, and as the situation escalated, more guards were called in," Tripathi said.
The university has created three committees to investigate the matter, and it will discuss the issue with the GIMS administration, the registrar added.
As news of the standoff reached GIMS, its hostel warden reached the campus along with guards from the medical institute.
"Our senior staff members tried to control the situation, but GBU guards entered the hostel and assaulted our students. In the clash, the car of the hostel warden and other vehicles were also damaged. Four of our students who suffered fractures have been admitted to GIMS for treatment, and another 18 students have minor injuries," said Brig (retd) Dr Rakesh Gupta, GIMS director.
Police said the duty in-charge of the security agency, several unidentified security guards, and students have been booked in the two cases.
"The FIRs have been registered under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapon, 149 (unlawful assembly), 352 (assault), 442 (house tress-pass), 504 (intentional insult), 503 (criminal intimidation), and provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Act," the SHO said.
When contacted, an official of the security agency refused to comment on the clash.
Students protest
On Monday, around 250 GIMS students protested at the medical institute and demanded that their hostel be shifted out of the GBU campus.
A student who wished to remain anonymous said they don't feel safe on GBU campus. "The guards used foul language as well. Earlier too, there was a clash between GBU and GIMS students over songs being played at the hostel," the student said, referring to the April 2022 scuffle between the students.
"We want our own hostel within the GIMS campus," said another student.
None of them have returned to the hostel since the clashes, said a third-year MBBS student. "We don't want to go back. We have not received any communication from the GIMS administration so far. We will continue to protest till a solution is found," he said.
GBU registrar Tripathi admitted that the "matter is crucial as it raised security concerns".
"Three high-level committees have been set up at GBU. Action will be taken against those found guilty. We will also discuss the matter with the GIMS administration," he said.
GBU vice-chancellor Ravindra Kumar Sinha, when asked about GIMS students demanding that their hostel be moved out, said "both the parties would benefit" if that was to happen as "there won't be further clashes".
With inputs from Advitya Bahl & Ayantika Pal