Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday directed the Punjab government and police to file a comprehensive status report on the violence, arson, and looting that broke out at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Phagwara following an alleged rape rumour on September 26.
The court ordered the status report—to be signed directly by the police commissioner—to clarify whether the alleged rape occurred, give details of the actions taken against the perpetrators of the violence, and outline steps taken to remove the online post. A heavy police deployment was required to restore order by Monday. In the wake of the violence, the university suspended all academic activities for 10 days from September 28. The high court has directed the state government to implement measures preventing similar incidents on campus and scheduled the next hearing for October 8.
The situation escalated when masked outsiders armed with swords, rods, and sickles broke through the main gates, destroyed CCTV cameras, looted shops, and set property on fire, according to the plea.
A bench headed by chief justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and justice Rohit Kapoor issued the direction while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by LPU BTech student Ravi Raj. The petition seeks a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the unrest, arguing that authorities failed to enforce IT Act provisions to stop unverified claims from spreading.
