Chittorgarh: A group of local students allegedly beat up four Kashmiri pupils over rumours that they were cooking beef in Mewar university in Chittorgarh, which has a strictly vegetarian mess.
The locals alleged that the Kashmiri students were cooking beef in their hostel room despite the campus being vegetarian by policy.
However, according to police, someone spread a rumour about the students preparing beef, leading to the misunderstanding. A large number of students gathered at their hostel room following the rumour and beat them up.
Police said the students were allegedly manhandled by some others students and locals after the rumours spread but prima facie the meat was not found to be beef.
Soon after some students as well as locals assembled in front of the Mewar University and demanded action against them. Police rushed to the site and arrested four students under section 151 of IPC (disturbance of public peace) on Tuesday.
"They were questioned about their role in bringing the meat to the hostel and cooking it," SHO Gangrar Police Station Labhu Ram said.
Those arrested are Shakib Ashraf, Hilal Farukh, Mohammad Makbool and Shaukat Ali, aged between 21 to 27 years.
"We also collected the sample of the meat which prima facie does not appear to be beef. However, the samples have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for testing and the report is awaited," he said.
The situation however was brought under control before anything serious could happen. The students sustained minor injuries due to the incident.
“Some mischief mongers spread rumours that the students were cooking beef. But prima facie it didn’t look like beef. We have sent it for forensic testing just to be sure,” Chittorgarh superintendent of police Prasanna Khamesara was quoted in a report.
Public Relations Officer of the university said meat is not allowed in the campus.
"Cooking meat is against our policy. Police is investigating the case and during the initial probe, it was clear that the substance was not beef," Harish Gurnani, PRO of the autonomous university said.
He said the hostellers involved in the matter were undergraduates.
