Thaindian News

Chandigarh, June 22 (IANS) Hit by rising incidents of campus violence, Panjab University (PU), one of the oldest varsities in the country, has taken some bold steps, including opening a webpage on trouble makers and asking new students for affidavits on their past record.

The varsity has opened a webpage on its website that will contain all past details about tainted students - the type of offence, punishment and all personal details.

The heads of various departments will go through the webpage before offering admission to any among them.

“We have taken this step to curb violence inside the university campus. We have observed that there are certain students who indulge in violence and in incidents of road rage inside the campus very frequently. All details of such students will be uploaded on a separate page on the PU website,” Naval Kishore, PU’s dean for students’ welfare (DSW), told IANS.

“Before offering admission, the head of the department will scan this webpage and, on his discretion, will decide whether to give admission to the student. Besides keeping a tab on criminal students from entering the campus, this initiative will also act as a deterrent for other students,” stated Kishore.

Over 11,000 students, about 70 percent of them girls, study in around 70 research and teaching departments of PU. It is spread over 550 acres covering Sectors 14 and 25.

PU is the alma mater of many senior bureaucrats and senior politicians, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The varsity authorities have also decided to take an affidavit from all new students about their past record.

“Students will be required to submit an affidavit, within a month of admission, stating whether he has any criminal background or he has been convicted in any criminal offence.

“If a case has been registered against him, then the student has to furnish all details of the FIR,” a senior official of PU told IANS.

He added: “If a student provides fake details or fails to provide this affidavit, then he will be rusticated from the department.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had done his graduation and post-graduation in Economics from here in the 1950s. Later, he joined the university as a lecturer and went on to become a professor at the young age of 32 years.

The varsity’s image has, however, been tarnished by frequent violent incidents that rocked the campus in the past few years.

According to the records of Chandigarh Police, nearly 50 criminal cases, related to violence involving PU students, have been registered since 2005 and over 100 people arrested or detained for questioning.

Besides Chandigarh Police officials, there are around 125 private security guards deployed in the PU campus to maintain law and order.

Students have expressed happiness over this initiative of PU.

“We come to this university to study. But some students have made it a platform to display their muscle power.

“We support this initiative of PU authorities and believe it will certainly control the increasing crime graph of the varsity,” Akanksha Moudgil, a PU engineering student, told IANS.

Ashok Sahini, a parent, said: “We welcome this step. Fear of being denied admission will work and now students will think many times before indulging in violence.”

(Alkesh Sharma can be contacted at alkesh.s@ians.in)