AFRICAN students the Roorkee Institute of Technology in the Indian state of Uttarakhand have decried the recent maltreatment of two of their colleagues by the management of the institution who hired private commandoes to beat them up.
In an unprecedented development one Nigerian student named Ibrahim and a Ghanaian known as Benjamin were mercilessly beaten on the college premises last week. They were beaten up and left injured simply because they went out for dinner without a pass as the school authorities have not granted passes since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
One local source said: “Students faced problems after they ran out of money. They used to have their meals in the college canteen but the manager stopped providing food after the student failed to pay.
“They wanted to go to their friends’ homes but the college administration did not give permission. They stepped out and upon their return got into a fight with guard and later, the college administration called goons to beat them up.”
Both students were badly beaten up and other students recorded the incidents on videos. In the viral videos uploaded by the students, the guards numbering up to 20 were seen dragging and thrashing the two African students.
Benjamin said: “They dragged Ibrahim from the second floor to the ground floor and they hit me with bamboo sticks. Then the police arrived at the spot and rushed us to a hospital.”
He added that the school management hired the men from a private security guard agency, Hawk Commando, to forcefully remove them from the campus after the police had advised the administration against it and asked them to take it up with the relevant embassy. Members of the National Students Union of India and other activists have staged protests outside the college gates in solidarity with the victimised Africans, with many of them lamenting that this is coming at a time when many thought black lives were beginning to matter.
One Indian student said: “Two African students were beaten at Roorkee Institute of Technology for going out from their hostel on 15 July. With the support of over 200 Indian students, we filed a complaint and strongly condemn the incident.”
