Tough action: Patna University vice-chancellor Shambhu Nath Singh

Patna, Aug. 30: The Patna University administration has decided to beef up security on the campus, particularly around the office of the vice-chancellor (VC), principals of colleges and other officials.

The decision was taken after some unruly students barged into VC Shambhu Nath Singh’s chamber last evening and misbehaved with him.

Singh told The Telegraph: “We have decided to hire the services of private security agencies to upgrade security on the campus. We will have adequate security arrangements to prevent unruly elements from creating trouble.”

The decision was taken today at a closed-door meeting headed by the VC and attended by senior officers.

The university administration has also decided to strictly deal with students involved in yesterday’s incident.

An FIR has been lodged against three students, Tammana, Tanveer Ahmad and Varun Choudhary.

Singh said: “Apart from lodging an FIR, the university has also decided to cancel the degrees of the students in question. They will be rusticated.”

The teachers of the university also condemned the incident and urged the VC to take punitive action against the erring students.

Yesterday, four students led by Tammana, a member of the NCP students’ wing, barged into the VC’s chamber around 4.30pm, shocking Singh and other officers.

They demanded the postponement of the BEd entrance exam scheduled for today. They kept on shouting at the VC, alleging that he never listened to their problems. Hearing commotion inside the VC’s chamber, the official security guard of Singh, R.D. Paswan, entered the room and tried to pacify the students. But they abused Paswan and threatened him with dire consequences if he tried to interfere in the issue.

Singh said: “Prima facie, it appears that the students had barged into my chamber with the intention to hurt me at the behest of someone. They were not interested to discuss any issue.”

This was not the first time that students had misbehaved with the VC. They had also behaved badly with him on Saturday, when he had gone for inspection to Saidpur Hostel in Rajendra Nagar.

In recent times, the university has witnessed many unruly incidents involving students clashing with each other and outsiders. On August 10, some boarders of Minto Hostel and Jackson Hostel hurled bombs on campus. The university authorities are yet to take any action against students who were involved in the incident.

Singh also said he was not happy with the functioning of the university. When he visited the BEd examination centres today, he found very few police personnel deployed there. At Patna Science College, there were neither policemen nor a magistrate.

Singh said: “According to the guidelines, it is the responsibility of the district administration to deploy policemen at examination centres.”