Gujarat: 5 held over attack on int'l Muslim students for offering namaz

NT Bureau, Agencies

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Police has arrested five persons in connection with the mob attack on international Muslim students in Gujarat University when they were offering namaz.

Three people – 22-yearold Kshitij Kamlesh Pandey, 31-year-old Jitendra Ghanshyam Patel and 21-year-old Sahil Arunbhai Dudhtiuva – were arrested on Monday, while two others, Hitesh Rakhubhai Mewada and Bharat Damodarbhai Patel, had been arrested on Sunday.

At least five international students were injured in the assault on Saturday night, the newspaper reported.

The injured students, who are from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka, were admitted to the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Hospital.

On Monday, the university decided to shift its international students to a different hostel that is meant for Non-Resident Indian students.

They will be shifted within three days. The university has also directed security agencies to deploy retired Army personnel to strengthen the security of its hostel blocks, Gujarat University Vice-Chancellor Neerja Gupta told PTI.

On Saturday, the students had gathered inside their hostel to offer taraweeh, which are special prayers offered during the holy month of Ramzan, since there is no mosque on the campus.

Soon after, a mob of between 20 to 25 people entered the hostel and began shouting“Jai Shri Ram”.

The mob asked to know the identity of the persons who had allowed the prayers to be offered in the hostel.

They allegedly assaulted the students with knives, stones and sticks. The group also vandalised motorbikes, laptops, phones and other personal belongings of the students.