Gurgaon: Students staged a protest at the main gate of Faridabad’s JC Bose University of Science and Technology on Wednesday after a second-year BBA student alleged that the university’s proctor slapped him and threatened to damage his career.Proctor Prof Manjeet Singh denied the allegation and claimed the student had been reprimanded for repeatedly fiddling with the buttons of a lift on the university campus. Students called off the protest after the university management assured them that it would conduct an inquiry.The student, Devesh Luthra, claimed he was with Singh in a lift near the new library around 2 pm on Sept 8 when the proctor slapped him. The lift has no CCTV cameras.Student council president Nitesh Nagar, unit president Naren Saini, Yudhishthir Sharma and Pawan Bhati said a group of students along with Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) supporters staged a sit-in at the university’s gate for several hours on Wednesday demanding an impartial inquiry and action against the professor. They were later allowed to meet the vice-chancellor in the afternoon and submit a complaint. The VC assured them that the matter would be investigated fairly and appropriate action would be taken. The students said they would stage another protest if the university failed to act.On Thursday, ABVP state co-secretary Gayatri Rathore said a university should provide students with a safe environment and demanded an impartial inquiry into the incident. She demanded that the proctor be suspended if found guilty.Singh, meanwhile, told TOI that the student was found tampering with the lift buttons for quite some time and so he was counselled. “The allegation of slapping and threatening him is baseless. A meeting was held with the student and the organisation regarding the matter, and the issue has been resolved mutually,” he said.University spokesperson Jitendra Yadav said the matter had come to the university’s notice after a group of students staged a protest and that an impartial inquiry was being conducted.
