Now, bombs hurled at hostel in Ramadevi

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Oct 6:

Campus violence escalated in the state today with different colleges and universities witnessing frenzied campaigning ahead of students’ union polls.

Bike-borne miscreants hurled two crude bombs at the ST hostel in Ramadevi Women’s University campus here this morning. While the miscreants managed to flee, the incident led to panic among the students. Shards of glass of broken window panes lay littered on the ground.

Students demanded security arrangements in the hostels too. “Security arrangements are there in place in the colleges but it is absent at the hostels. We also need security in our hostels,” said a student of the varsity.

“I feel this is specifically aimed at cancelling students’ union elections in our varsity. We want protection for students. It’s very clear that it is purely aimed at cancelling elections since there was peace in our university before this incident. Elections should not be cancelled,” said another student speaking to the media.

Some parents, who had come to meet their daughters at the varsity, witnessed the bomb-hurling incident. “I had come to meet my daughter in the morning. We saw two bike-borne youth parked their bike outside the campus and hurled something. One fell on the ground while the other hit the window panes. There was a loud noise. Later we realized that those were bombs,” a parent told mediapersons.

Though the bomb-hurling is suspected to be aimed at disrupting the polls, the exact reason behind the incident is yet to be ascertained. Police are investigating the matter.

The candidates for the varsity students’ union polls filed their nominations yesterday. The list of the valid candidates was published today after scrutiny.

Meanwhile, tension also prevailed in Maharishi College of Natural Law and Rajdhani College in the city over students’ union elections here. The college authorities declared sine die following violence in the campus.