BJ students come to blows again

All’s not quiet at BJ Medical College again. On Tuesday evening, inmates of the ‘A’ and ‘B’ block of the B J Medical College hostel clashed — this makes it seven times in the last one month — after students of block ‘B’ assaulted a student of block ‘A’ late on Monday.

As news of the assault on the 'A' Block inmate spread, hundreds of students from both blocks came out and indulged in a free-for-all. Shahibaug police inspector N N Pathan and a team of policemen rushed to the spot and lathi charged the students to bring the situation under control. Police have detained two students — Paresh Patel and Amit Prajapati—for rioting.

Students, who were holed up in 'A' block, said that one of the interns, Paresh Patel, was beaten up and his clothes torn.

Minister of State for Health Ashok Bhatt has said he was going to hold a meeting with student leaders of both the blocks on Wednesday to resolve the issue.

Despite recurrent violence, no concrete action has been taken either by the college management, the dean or the Ministry of Health.

Dean of BJ Medical College Dr. K V Bhatt who, initially refused to admit that there was any problem now, says action is being taken. "We have taken disciplinary action against the students but the fights are becoming too frequent," says Bhatt. But except for suspending a few students for 15 days, the dean has not been able to take any other action to put an end to the fights.

Even Minister of State for Health Ashok Bhatt hasn’t been able to do much about the problem. On Tuesday, when told about the fresh clashes, he said: "We will deploy security and will issue identity cards to students."

Posting security guards, however, will probably take along time as the proposal has just been put forward. "The college was closed for vacations and after it has opened, we have prepared the files and are going ahead with the process," says Bhatt, avoiding setting any time frame for deployment of security.

Till then, studies remain badly affected as the reading room was closed following the incident, creating problems for students whose preliminary exams are on. And students continue to tear each other’s journals, clothes and engage in fistfights. What’s causing even more concern is the fact that the students have now armed themselves. Iron rods, bicycle chains, stones, sticks and hospital apparatus are being used as weapons during fights.

However, on talking to students of both the blocks — Block 'A' comprises non-Gujarati and students from Saurashtra while block 'B' has a concentration of students from North and South Gujarat — only a series of accusations emerge.

Students of block 'A' allege that they have been thrashed by Block 'B' students several times. "They used to line us up and then hit us with chains, rods, until sometime back when the 300-odd students of our block united and decided to hit back," says a student on condition of anonymity.

"They also used to force us to appear for their exams and if anyone objected, he would be beaten up," adds the student. With the reading room closed and the students forced to study in their rooms, the issue doesn’t settle there. "They play loud music, shout and shriek and also burst crackers to disturb us" says a student of Block 'B' against their rival block.

"They suspend the students but then nothing happens after that. Our block has a warden but Block 'B' doesn’t have any and even though the fights have broken out right in front of the Dean’s office, no action is taken against the students," allege the students of block 'A' in unison.

Republished from The Indian Express