Pune: SPPU student beaten up over 'love jihad' claim; police, university launch probe

PUNE: A 19-year-old Muslim student of a university in Maharashtra's Pune city has been allegedly beaten up by five unidentified persons who accused him of engaging in "love jihad", police said on Tuesday. The incident took place on Sunday afternoon when the male student was accompanying two female students on the campus of the state-run Savitribai Phule Pune University, an official from Chatushringi police station said. The police have registered a case against unidentified persons and are trying to identify the culprits, he said.

The university authorities said they have set up a committee for a probe into the incident. '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 male student, along with the two female friends, was returning after having a meal when four-five unidentified persons on motorbikes approached them on the university campus, the official said. They started questioning the student and asked him to show his Aadhaar card.

In his complaint, the student 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. "We have registered a complaint against unidentified persons under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and efforts are underway to trace them with the help of CCTV footage," the official said.

The complainant is a student of a skill development course in the university, he added. The university's registrar, Vijay Khare, said they have 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.