Punjab Police Arrest LPU Student in Doda; Second Escapes Raid in Kishtwar

Punjab Police on Thursday arrested a Lovely Professional University (LPU) student from Doda town in Jammu and Kashmir in connection with the violent unrest that rocked the university's Phagwara campus last month, officials told The Indian Express. A second student, a social-media influencer from neighbouring Kishtwar, allegedly slipped away just before the police team reached a relative's house in Doda.

Raids across Doda and Kishtwar

According to officials, a Punjab Police team first went to the student's house in Kishtwar, but he was not found there. The team then swooped on the house of his relatives in Doda — however, he had left the premises before the officers arrived. Later, the police arrested another student who had returned home after the LPU campus in Phagwara shut down in the wake of the September violence.

The arrested student's father is a government school teacher. His parents could not be contacted as they were said to have gone to Punjab. Police have yet to officially name either of the two students.

Three FIRs name 20 students and outsiders

Following the violence on the LPU campus, Punjab Police registered three FIRs naming 20 students and outsiders. Five people from Punjab and Haryana have been arrested so far, officials said.

The student who allegedly escaped is the son of a local ration dealer in Kishtwar town and is among those named in the FIRs after police screened video footage, electronic surveillance data and eyewitness accounts. He has more than 21,000 followers on Instagram.

In one video reportedly examined by the police, he is allegedly seen entering the Dean of Students' Welfare (DSW) building, followed seconds later by a group of masked protesters, including some carrying weapons, entering a multi-storey building where CCTV cameras and window panes were subsequently damaged. Another clip allegedly shows him damaging a statue and other university property.

In a video doing the rounds on social media, the student has denied any involvement in the violence. He claimed he had gone to the DSW building to appeal to students not to damage trophies, and that he became agitated only after a security guard assaulted a female student.

How the LPU unrest unfolded

The unrest erupted in late September after unverified claims circulated on social media that a female student had been sexually assaulted on campus. Hundreds of students protested, vandalising university property, setting police vehicles ablaze and blocking the Jalandhar–Phagwara stretch of National Highway 44 for several hours.

Police have said they found no evidence substantiating the sexual-assault claim, and the university administration dismissed the allegations as false and fabricated. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has sought a status report from Punjab Police on the violence, with the matter listed for hearing on October 8.