Lovely Professional University Rocked by Protest Over Rape Allegation; Police File FIR

Chandigarh: Students at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Punjab's Phagwara staged a late-night protest early Sunday, vandalising campus property and blocking the Jalandhar-Phagwara national highway over unverified social media claims that a female student had been raped by a campus worker.

Around 2,000 students gathered near the girls' hostel, GH3, around 2.30 am, alleging that a female student had been raped three days earlier by a construction worker on campus and that university authorities had subsequently sent her home. Some students also claimed that the student had later died by suicide. University authorities alleged that amid the unrest, students damaged window panes and flower pots, set some objects and parts of the campus on fire, vandalised a few shops, and damaged a police vehicle, before spilling onto the highway and causing a major traffic jam. Authorities diverted traffic via the Phagwara-Jandiala road and other arterial routes.

Police said they intervened around 2 am to restore order but reportedly found no evidence supporting either the rape or suicide claims, and had not received any formal complaint. Officials did confirm that a woman had died by suicide four to five days earlier near the university's agriculture department, but said there was no evidence linking that death to the circulating rape allegations.

DIG (Jalandhar Range) Naveen Singla confirmed that police would register an FIR against an unknown person based on the students' statement, with a copy to be handed over to them once filed. A special investigation team will be formed to probe the case, with the DIG stating that the investigation would include forensic analysis, CCTV analysis and phone analysis, conducted in coordination with student leaders.

Singla added that students had raised additional demands, including that the entire hostel staff be staffed exclusively by women, and that a meeting had been scheduled with LPU management to discuss their demands.