A group of around 20 youth vandalised the Ambedkar post-matriculation hostel at Sangameshwar Nagar in Belagavi on Sunday night. Some vehicles and property were damaged, but no one was injured.
The group entered the hostel holding rods, cricket bats and sticks at around 10 p.m.
They threw stones at the hostel doors and windows, damaged motorbikes and bicycles and shouted abuses against the inmates.
The students huddled up in some rooms to protect themselves from the attack. The post-matriculation government hostel run by the Department of Social Welfare has around 300 students studying pre-university, degree and post-graduate courses.
Some inmates had gone to sleep while others were studying. And, some had gone out for a walk when the incident happened, said Vijay Kumar Budri, an inmate. “We were terrified as the group entered the hostel premises and went on a rampage. The group members broke windows, banged at our doors and broke the mirrors of two-wheelers. We could not sleep till 3 in the morning,” he said.
Shankar Kanagal, another inmate, said that some local students who were friends with some inmates had got into an argument with outsiders which led to the incident.
“Some of our students go to study at the nearby Buddha Vihar. Some youth who are not inmates of the hostel got into a fight with the local youth. The youth mistook them for inmates and came back to pick up a quarrel with us. Our hostel mates are not involved in the quarrel,” he said.
Deputy Director of Social Welfare Uma Saligoudar visited the hostel later along with police personnel from the APMC Police Station and spoke to the inmates.
Police Commissioner Lokesh Kumar has ordered an investigation.
The police suspected that a minor incident such as troubling a girl might have caused the outrage. “Initial investigation shows that a girl from Kumaraswamy Layout was troubled by a young man. She suspected that he was from this hostel. She went home and told her relatives. Her cousins who wanted to warn the hostel inmates spread the news. That may have led to the incident, in all probability,” said a police officer who has information about the event.
The APMC Police have registered a case against 15 unidentified miscreants for damaging property and under some provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act. Another case has been registered based on a complaint by the girl who said that an unidentified boy had made an attempt to molest her on Sunday. “Now, it is our duty to identify the accused in both the cases,” said Mr. Lokesh Kumar. He said that the police will study the CCTV footage and round up the suspects.
