Two brothers, a family feud, a private university and inconvenienced students. This sums up the horrible situation at Bengaluru’s Alliance University.
For over a year now, the feud between brothers – Madhukar and Sudhir Angur, who own the university, have inconvenienced the students on multiple occasions.
On Friday evening, the students were allegedly not allowed to enter the hostel as men hired by Sudhir Angur stopped them at the gate. Students also alleged that some of these men stationed at the gate touched them inappropriately.
High drama which led up to Friday’s events
Alliance University has over 7,000 students and offers over 30 courses in business, law, engineering and design and performing arts.
The trouble started in 2015 when rape allegations were made against Madhukar Angur, the founder-director and university’s chancellor. After cases of rape were slapped against him, he was replaced by his brother Sudhir Angur as the university’s chancellor in March 2015.
On September 28, 2016, Madhukar Angur stormed the gates of the varsity and forcefully resumed office as the university’s chancellor. All the teachers were dragged out of the campus and new teachers were brought in.
Friday’s events were strikingly similar to the drama in September 2016 but this time Sudhir Angur, his sister Shailaja Chabbi followed by over 200 men barged into the university’s campus.
“At round 6.30 pm Sudhir Angur and the thugs he got along with him barged into the administrative block. Madhukar Angur had fled the college by then. They beat up the staff who had stayed back with Madhukar. They took the head of the IT department and locked him up in a room at 12 am. They beat him up and they came out only at 5 am today (Saturday). The other employees who were beaten told us that the thugs wanted the passwords to the college systems and so they had locked him up in a room,” an MBA student at Alliance University told TNM.
Some of Sudhir’s men were also allegedly stationed at the university gate and some of them were inside. Students claim that security guards were dismissed while they were not allowed to enter the campus.
“Some students had gone out. When they came back, Sudhir Angur’s men did not allow them to enter the campus. They told us to go back to where we came from. When some students asked him what authority he had, the men verbally abused the students,” the student added.
Students allege that Sudhir’s men who were inside the campus sexually harassed the girls.
“The men would randomly walk up to the girls and touch them inappropriately and ask them for their ID cards. They also said some lewd things to one of my friend. She told me that she did not understand most of what he said but that she picked up on a few dirty words he used. She just got back into the hostel and did not go out till all the men had gone away. Sudhir Angur is now supposed to be the Vice Chancellor. How can he put the safety of students at risk?” the student questioned.
Students also allege that police personnel who were stationed outside the campus did not come forward and help them.
“The policemen were near the gate. When Sudhir Angur’s men were verbally abusing students and not letting them enter the hostel, the police just stood there and watched. The men started beating some of the staff members and then too, the police did not step in and help them. The students who were inside the campus did not step outside their hostel rooms because these men were walking around the campus like they own it,” the student said.
However, Sudhir Angur’s lawyer Manjunath Gowda dismissed the allegations of assault, noting, “These are all false allegations, no one was assaulted. Legally, Sudhr Angur is the Vice Chancellor.”