With mystery continuing to shroud over the alleged rape case that led to violence at Lovely Professional University last month, the special investigation team (SIT) has sought specific information from students to substantiate whether such an incident actually took place on the campus.
Last week, in a response to a public interest litigation (PIL) in Punjab and Haryana high court, the Punjab government stated the investigation so far had not confirmed any incident of rape, even as several teams of the police have been probing the matter from multiple angles. The next hearing in the case is slated on October 27. The PIL filed by Ravi Raj, a BTech student at LPU, is seeking a CBI probe into the violence, arson and looting that broke out at LPU following the alleged rape rumour on September 26.
During a hearing on October 12, the high court flagged gaps in the Punjab Police probe into the violence and gave a “last opportunity” to the state police before it transfers the case to an independent agency.
Students have been asked to share corroborative information, including details mentioning the place, date, time, the accused or the victim, along with valid proof, via the email IDs or phone numbers of the SIT members provided to them, according to a varsity notice.
On September 26, Kapurthala police had already registered a rape case under Section 64 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against unidentified suspects, though the identity of the alleged victim remained unestablished. “The identity of the person providing information will be kept confidential. A five-member SIT, headed by Vineet Ahalawat, superintendent of police (Investigation), Jalandhar Rural, was subsequently constituted. Matter in high court
It has been requested that only specific and verifiable information, supported by ample proof, should be shared so that it can be further investigated,” said one of the officials privy to the investigation.
