Allegations that two Kashmiri pharmacy students in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal were being intimidated and pressured to vacate their rented accommodation because of their regional and religious identity have prompted the city police to step in, with a senior officer saying that a police team has visited the locality and spoken to residents and members associated with the residential colony.
The Jammu & Kashmir Students Association (JKSA) raised the matter in a three-page letter to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Tuesday, seeking his "immediate and personal intervention" to protect the safety, dignity and education of the two students.
The letter, dated August 18, alleges continuous harassment, intimidation and pressure on the landlord of the students' accommodation in Bhopal.
Both students are pursuing pharmacy studies at a private college in Bhopal after being selected under the Prime Minister's Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS). According to JKSA, while hostel accommodation was allotted under the scheme, the college presently does not have hostel facilities available for the students, forcing them to live in paying-guest accommodation since last year.
The association has alleged that certain members of the local colony/society, along with what it described as "fringe elements," have been pressuring the landlord to evict the two students solely because they are from Jammu and Kashmir and are Muslims. More seriously, the students have alleged that their landlord was warned that if he did not remove them, individuals could forcibly enter the property and throw them out.
The allegations have now reached the Bhopal Police.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bhopal Zone IV, Adarshkant Shukla said the entire matter had come to the police's notice and a local police team was immediately sent to the area.
"The local police team has rushed to the concerned locality in the evening. Our team has talked to the local residents, including those associated with the concerned residential colony/society and the matter is being duly taken care off. It will be ensured that the landlord isn't pressured by anyone to get the accommodation vacated by the two students," Shukla said.
The police intervention assumes significance as JKSA claims the alleged intimidation has already begun affecting the students' everyday lives and education.
According to the letter, the two students have become so fearful that they are unable to freely leave their accommodation, travel normally or attend college. The association says the students had also approached the college authorities for assistance but, according to their representation, did not receive adequate support to resolve their immediate safety and accommodation concerns.
JKSA has argued that the controversy should not be reduced to a routine landlord-tenant or accommodation dispute. "The matter concerns student safety, intimidation, coercion and discriminatory harassment," the association said in its letter, stressing that the students' Kashmiri origin or Muslim identity cannot become grounds for denying them a safe place to live and study.
The association has urged the Chief Minister to direct Bhopal Police and the district administration to independently verify the allegations, speak directly to the students and take legal action against anyone found responsible. It has specifically requested that neither student be compelled to vacate the accommodation because of intimidation or pressure while the matter is being investigated.
With hostel facilities reportedly unavailable, JKSA has also sought the administration's intervention to arrange secure accommodation close to the institution if an alternative becomes necessary. It said the college administration should coordinate with police and district officials and ensure that the controversy does not affect the students' attendance, examinations, academic progress or scholarship benefits.
