A police case has been initiated against a group of students at a private university in New Town for allegedly making racist remarks and assaulting another group of students on campus.
According to police, a student lodged a complaint with Gangtok Police last month, alleging that he and some of his friends were stopped from entering the university’s football field on September 16 and subjected to derogatory remarks about their “tribal” identity.
An officer of New Town police division said the incident reportedly occurred during a friendly match on campus.
“We received a zero FIR from Sadar police station in Gangtok and registered a formal case at Techno City police station against the students named in the complaint. A formal probe has been started,” said Manav Singla, deputy commissioner (New Town), Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, on Wednesday.
The case has been registered under sections related to causing voluntary hurt and criminal intimidation, as well as relevant provisions of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
A zero FIR allows a complaint to be filed at any police station regardless of where the alleged offence occurred. It is then forwarded to the appropriate jurisdiction for investigation.
According to the complaint, the complainant and three friends were entering the football field when they saw a group of students in an altercation with first-year law students.
“When they saw us, as usual, they told us that they would not allow us to play football in the field and that we tribals should go and play in the jungles. We left the field and as we exited the campus, they started beating us up. We tried to defend ourselves but were overwhelmed and had to run away. Even when we were running away, they shouted that they would teach us tribals a lesson by lodging false police complaints against us and then they would kill us,” the complainant told the police.
The police said they had earlier received a complaint from the accused students alleging assault by the complainant and his friends.
Both cases are being investigated. No arrests had been made till Wednesday evening.
This newspaper tried to contact a senior university official, but calls and messages went unanswered until Wednesday evening.