Chitkara University Halts Academic Activities Following Late-Night Campus Vandalism And Protests

Chitkara University has suspended regular academic activities for four days, from Monday, September 28 to Thursday, October 1, amid student unrest triggered by unverified social-media claims about the deaths of two female students on its Punjab campus. The university has described the period as “non-teaching working days due to administrative reasons.” In a circular issued on September 27, the university informed faculty and staff that teaching activities would remain suspended during the four days. However, faculty members and administrative staff have been asked to report for duty as usual, and regular university administrative work is expected to continue.

The decision came days after hundreds of students protested at the Rajpura campus following viral claims that two female hostel residents had died by suicide or gone missing. Students also circulated claims that screams had been heard from the girls’ hostel and that ambulances had arrived on campus. The university has denied that any student died by suicide or went missing. It said an ambulance was seen near the girls’ hostel in the early hours of September 24 in connection with a student returning from hospital, and that the student was brought back to the hostel around 2.50 am. It added that no death or suicide was associated with the incident.

Patiala police have also said they found no evidence supporting the claims. Officials said no death or suicide was reported by students, families or campus authorities, while medical authorities reportedly confirmed that no post-mortem involving a Chitkara University student had been conducted in recent days. Police said students who raised the missing-students claim were unable to provide names, photographs, roll numbers or other identifying details of the alleged missing women. Banur Deputy Superintendent of Police Sukhdev Singh said authorities had met protesting students and received their complaints, but no verifiable information about any missing student had emerged.

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The protest began late on Friday and continued into Saturday, during which some students clashed with police and allegedly damaged two police vehicles and campus property. Police said an inquiry has been initiated into both the origin of the rumours and the vandalism, though no case against students had been announced at the time of the latest reports. University registrar Colonel Rakesh Sharma (retd) said there was no such incident at the university and urged students not to rely on unverified social-media posts. Officials said the situation was brought under control after they informed students late on Friday night that no student had died or gone missing.

The unrest followed similar unverified claims that triggered protests at another private university in Punjab, Lovely Professional University, over the weekend. In both cases, university administrations and police said they found no evidence to support the allegations and maintained that students were safe. Classes are expected to resume on Monday, October 5, as October 2 is a national holiday and October 3 and 4 fall on the weekend. The university has not announced any additional changes to the academic calendar beyond the four-day suspension.

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