Violence erupts during BJP protest over ‘objectionable’ graffiti at Pune University, four students injured

PUNE: Four students belonging to a Left-wing outfit were injured after a brawl broke out during a protest held by the BJP at the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) here against an "objectionable" graffiti on Prime Minister Narendra Modi found painted inside a hostel of the university, police said.

The incident took place on Friday afternoon near the university main building, which houses its administrative office, they said. "In response to the objectionable graffiti on the prime minister found inside the hostel, hundreds of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) supporters staged a protest at the university on Friday. However, the protest turned violent when four students of a Left-wing outfit visited the protest site," a police official said.

A brawl broke out during the protest, in which the four students who belong to the New Socialist Alternative were injured, he said. The police later detained these four students and released them in the evening, the official added. A video of the incident that surfaced on social media shows the four students of the Left-wing group carrying flags of their organisation at the BJP's protest site. When BJP workers raise 'Bharat Mata ki jai' slogan, these four students shout 'Inquilab Zindabad' slogan. Following this, the protesters surround these four students and beat them up, the video shows. According to police, graffiti against PM Modi inside the hostel was found on Thursday.

BJP's Pune city unit president Dheeraj Ghate said, "The objectionable content against our PM Narendra Modi is not at all acceptable. Many students who are not part of the SPPU are roaming inside the campus. We demand stringent action against those who painted the objectionable graffiti against our PM. Pune is the capital city for education. We will not let our university become a JNU." An official of Chaturshringi police station said a case was registered on Friday under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 500 (defamation) against an unidentified person for allegedly painting the graffiti. Additional Commissioner of Police Ranjan Kumar Sharma said, "An unidentified person was booked for painting objectionable content against the prime minister. We are probing the matter."