MP CM says no one will be spared in Assamese student assault case; non-bailable section invoked

Anuppur (MP), Jan 16 (PTI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Saturday said the guilty in the Assamese student assault case will not be spared, his statement coming amid police invoking a non-bailable section.

Hiros Jyoti Das, a 22-year-old postgraduate student from Assam, was assaulted allegedly by five peers at Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) hostel in Amarkantak here around 4 pm on Tuesday.

An FIR was registered shortly before midnight on Wednesday on the complaint of Das.

In a post on X, Yadav said police have registered an FIR and are taking due legal action. "The university administration has also taken action at its level against the accused students. No one will be spared," the CM said in the post.

The Medical Legal Certificate of the victim revealed injuries to his nose and the region below his eyes, based on which section 114 (causing grievous injury) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was added to the case, Anuppur Superintendent of Police Moti-ur-Rehman told PTI.

At the time of registration of FIR, the accused were charged under sections 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 296 (obscene acts and words), 351(3) (criminal intimidation) and 3(5) (common intention) of BNS.

The new section, clubbed with four others already applied, is non-bailable and carries a maximum punishment of seven years in jail, the SP pointed out.

As per the investigation so far, the accused asked the student where he was from before the assault took place and no racial remarks were made, Moti-ur-Rehman said.

In his complaint, Das alleged that while returning to his hostel room from the washroom, the accused questioned him about his place of origin and his presence at the university before assaulting him.

Das has named Anurag Pande, Jatin Singh, Rajnish Tripathi, Vishal Yadav and Utkarsh Singh in his complaint.

Earlier in the day, Amarkantak police station house officer Lal Bahadur Tiwari told PTI the five accused students had either fled or returned to their homes in Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Attempts to contact Das and IGNTU Registrar Professor N S Hari Narayana Moorthy were unsuccessful.

The incident comes close on the heels of the death of Anjel Chakma (24), a final-year MBA student from Tripura, who was allegedly attacked with a knife at a private university in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on December 9.

Chakma died on December 26 after undergoing treatment for 17 days, triggering nationwide outrage. PTI LAL BNM