CNLU Vice-Chancellor Prof Faizan Mustafa was seen slapping two students during a police raid at the boys’ hostel in Patna. The incident has triggered legal and public debate over use of force by a university authority.
The Vice-Chancellor of Chanakya National Law University (CNLU), Patna, Professor Faizan Mustafa, has come under controversy after a video surfaced showing him allegedly slapping two students during a late-night incident at the boys’ hostel on March 23.
The incident reportedly took place when police personnel entered the hostel premises to conduct a search for liquor, as Bihar is a dry State where the manufacture, sale, and consumption of alcohol is prohibited by law.
According to reports and the viral video, the situation at the hostel had become tense after police entered the campus late at night to check for alcohol. Some students allegedly tried to stop the police from moving further and were raising slogans, which led to a heated situation on the campus.
In the middle of this situation, Professor Faizan Mustafa was seen in the video slapping a student twice. When another student came forward, the Vice-Chancellor again raised his hand and slapped him as well.
In the video, Prof Mustafa can be heard saying to a student,
“What will you do? Are you the police? Have you lost your mind?”
The student then questioned the Vice-Chancellor and asked why he had hit him. In response, Prof Mustafa said,
“I hit you. You have lost your mind, have you forgotten who has taught you the law? A public servant is a…”
After the video went viral, Prof Mustafa spoke to the media and explained his side of the incident. He stated that he took this step to prevent the situation from getting worse and to stop a possible clash between the police and the students. He said that the students were angry and agitated after seeing police personnel entering their hostel rooms late at night, and the situation could have turned violent.
He further explained that he had previously seen a student lose his life during police firing in a similar situation, and he did not want such a tragic incident to happen again. Therefore, according to him, he intervened to control the situation before it escalated further.
Meanwhile, one of the students told the media that the police had entered the hostel late at night to search for alcohol, and many students gathered and tried to block the police from going inside. The students were also shouting slogans, which made the situation tense and chaotic on the campus.
The incident has now sparked a legal and public debate on whether a university Vice-Chancellor, being a public servant and head of an educational institution, can physically assault students even if the situation is tense.
Legal experts say that even in a tense situation, physical assault may attract legal consequences under criminal law, and the matter may require proper investigation to determine whether any offence was committed.
The incident has raised serious questions about the use of force by authorities in educational institutions, students’ rights, police entry into university campuses, and the responsibilities of public servants in handling sensitive situations without using physical force. The matter is likely to attract legal scrutiny and administrative review in the coming days.
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