New Delhi: The recent incidents of students from the Northeast region being beaten up in Pune has prompted Pune police chief Gulabrao Pol to take special security measures across the city for these students.
Pol said that the security arrangements have to be heightened near Poona College, which has a large number of such students. He said there is a threat to such students in the city.
Pol claimed he has instructed zonal deputy commissioner of police to take precautionary measures for the students.
“It is a serious matter and we have taken it seriously. We have instructed our officers to take steps to prevent such incidents,” Pol said.
The state director general office (DGP) has alerted the Pune police commissonerate to avert such incidents. Pol said, “We have got an alert from DGP office to avert these attacks in the city.”
The police said 10 youths from the Northeast, majority of them students, were attacked on August 8 and 9 in Kondhwa and around Poona College in Pune Camp. The Kondhwa police called a meeting of the North-east students’ leaders on Saturday. The police also met local politicians and Muslim community leaders to discuss the issue.
Anup Sarmah of Karuna Trust based in Bangalore working for people from the Northeast said that these attacks were politically motivated. “The attacks on innocent people are serious. We strongly believe that some of the Muslim community leaders are instigating people against North–east people,” Sarmah said.
The Pune police have appealed to people not to believe rumours being spread through internet and SMS.
Some complainants have told the police that their attackers asked them if they were from Assam, but did not wait for a reply before assaulting them.
The police said they will investigate if the attacks were connected in any way with the
recent Bodo-Muslim violence in Assam.
