Hyderabad:
A law student was beaten up and allegedly forced to chant religious slogans by a group of students in his hostel room in Hyderabad, a video of which has gone viral.
Himank Bansal, a third-year student at the ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE) in Hyderabad, was beaten, kicked and twisted his hands, the video shows. He can also be heard chanting “Jai Mata Di” and “Allahu Akbar” as the accused continued to beat him.
“We want to improve his ideology. We will put him in a coma and he will remember a whole new world,” said one suspect. One of them grabbed his wallet and said to another, “Take all the money you want.”
Eight of the 12 students, including a minor, charged with attempted murder have been taken into custody. The other seven are on the run. They’ve all been suspended by the business school. Five people from the board of directors of the college have been ordered to appear before the police.
The incident took place on November 1 after Himank made comments against the Prophet on social media. A case was registered after he approached police and filed a complaint stating that he had been physically and sexually assaulted, police said.
In his complaint, he also claimed that the students threatened to beat him to death if he didn’t take his pants off.
Himank also tweeted the incident, tagging Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao and Cyderabad Police Commissioner.
The business school said in a statement that it has “zero tolerance towards such unwelcome acts.” The institution said it “acted with diligence and made a decision to suspend all 12 students involved” involved in the incident.
The BJP has demanded a proper investigation into the matter and criticized the K Chandrashekhar Rao-led Telangana government for not taking immediate action. “This is not about religion. It is pseudo-secularism where such provocative incidents go unnoticed,” BJP leader Rachana Reddy told ANI news agency.