Girls hostels, ghost, rumours: Pattern in violence at Punjab varsities 140 km apart

A ghost scare and claims of missing girls at Chitkara University, followed by rape-and-suicide allegations at LPU, sparked violent protests on successive nights at the Punjab campuses around 140 km apart. Claims on social media and women's safety are common in both incidents. Punjab Police has rejected any links between the two.A person atop a displayed fighter aircraft at LPU (left). A police vehicle was vandalised at Chitkara University during protests. (Images: Social Media)New Delhi,Sep 28, 2026 14:11 ISTAround 140 km apart, two university campuses in Punjab erupted on successive nights. Chitkara University near Rajpura witnessed unrest on September 25 and Lovely Professional University (LPU), southeast of Jalandhar (in Phagwara) saw violent protests on September 26 and 27, according to reports.At Chitkara University, a ghost scare, and claims that two girls were missing or dead spread. At LPU, allegations of a hostel student's rape and subsequent suicide claims circulated. On both campuses, claims or rumours about girls' safety brought students out of their hostels. What followed was intense violence and police intervention.While the similarity in protests at the two private universities has attracted some chatter and scrutiny, according to Special DGP Parveen Sinha, there is no link between the violence at Chitkara University and LPU.Ghost rumours had started circulating at Chitkara since Wednesday (September 23), before a large student protest and violence took place on Friday night. At LPU, students began gathering on Saturday night (September 26) with the protest escalating into violence and highway blockade in the early hours of Sunday, according to reports. Social-media posts and videos fuelled fears about the safety of girls staying in hostels at both universities. As worried students gathered for answers, police and university authorities said the claims circulating online were not supported by evidence.By early Monday (September 28), more than 2,000 police personnel had been deployed at LPU, according to The Times of India. "Law and order has been fully maintained and restored," ADGP M F Farooqui told ANI. LPU had suspended regular classes for 10 days from Monday and postponed mid-term examinations. Chitkara University suspended academic activities from Monday, until October 1, following the unrest. Regular classes are scheduled to resume on October 5.AT CHITKARA, A SPEAKER PRANK AND A GHOST STORY The Chitkara scare began on September 23, Banur SHO Gursewak Singh told The Indian Express, when some girls allegedly played frightening sounds through a speaker inside the hostel. The warden checked the rooms but found nothing, he said.Another story followed. It was claimed that the hostel was haunted by a student who had died by suicide three years ago. That account was part of the rumour described by police.The next day (September 24), an ambulance and a priest's visit to the Chitkara campus added to the speculation. In its clarification, reported by The Indian Express, the university said the ambulance had brought a student back from hospital at approximately 2.50 am on September 24. The priest had come around 3 pm to meet his daughter, a student."There was no death or suicide associated with this incident," the university said of the ambulance visit.MISSING GIRLS AT CHITKARA, BUT NO NAMES?By Friday night, hundreds of Chitkara students had gathered, demanding answers. Police teams from Banur, Rajpura Sadar and Rajpura City police stations reached the campus as the situation became tense.At least two police vehicles were damaged. Properties on the campus was vandalised. A police officer was also allegedly manhandled.Claims that the girls' hostel was haunted, were just rumours. Police said protesters couldn't provide names, photographs, roll numbers or other identifying details of the supposedly missing girls, The Times of India reported.SHO Gursewak Singh said no student had been reported missing or harmed. The newspaper's September 26 report said investigators were examining the origin of the rumours and vandalism, although no case had then been registered against students.AT LPU, AN ALLEGATION RESULTED IN AN FIRAt LPU, students alleged that a worker from outside the campus had sexually assaulted a student in a girls' hostel, according to Chandigarh-based newspaper, The Tribune. Their accounts varied over whether the alleged perpetrator was a painter, plumber or construction worker.The newspaper reported that some protesters also claimed the student had returned home and subsequently died by suicide. Those claims are unverified as of now.Kapurthala police nevertheless registered an FIR against an unidentified person following a complaint from hostel students, The Tribune reported. A Special Investigation Team has been constituted.DIG Naveen Singla told The Indian Express that investigators would examine forensic evidence, CCTV recordings and phone data, by involving student representatives. "We will unearth the truth," he said.Senior officers told the newspaper that preliminary enquiries had not substantiated the allegation at the location identified by protesters. Police registered a case to investigate the students' complaint, but are yet to establish whether the alleged assault took place.LPU STUDENTS' VIDEO FACES QUESTIONSLPU's attempt to counter the rape allegation raised fresh questions after three students living in the hostel featured in a video released by the university. They said that they had been tutored and that the recording had been edited and shared without their consent, The Times of India reported.According to the report, the university released a video featuring three student-residents of the hostel room mentioned in the allegations. They said no such incident had occurred in their room.The students subsequently alleged that LPU administrators had instructed them what to say, edited their recording and published it without permission. "Our consent was not taken," a student said. Another said their room had been randomly named and appealed to be left alone.The students' objections raised questions about how the university had recorded and shared their words. Their account did not confirm that a rape had occurred, but it cast doubt on the university's use of their video to reassure others.LPU PROTEST SPILLS ONTO HIGHWAY; VEHICLES SET ABLAZE AND POLICE REPORT INJURIESThe LPU protest spread beyond the campus to the Jalandhar-Phagwara highway. Campus property and shops were damaged, while furniture and vehicles were set alight.As seen on numerous social media videos, protesters climbed onto a displayed fighter aircraft (a MiG-23) and a military tank. On Sunday night, a police vehicle was set on fire as unrest continued.There have been conflicting accounts of police action on the protesting students. Protesters alleged a lathicharge, while police disputed that account and accused protesters of throwing stones."Police personnel have sustained injuries. Police vehicles have been damaged," Jalandhar SSP Harvinder Singh Virk said, India Today reported on Sunday evening.The Times of India reported that the highway blockade was lifted and reimposed during the day (on Sunday), disrupting journeys towards other parts of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.Punjab Police has said that it's examining what drove the two violent protests and whether there was any connection, The Tribune reported. That initiation of an enquiry should not be confused with a finding of coordination. On both the campuses, alarming messages about girls' hostels spread online. They brought worried students out to seek answers before the protests turned violent. But the allegations at the two universities were different, as are the investigations into them.Classes have been suspended at both universities. And, on both the campuses, unanswered questions have left students anxious, while the violence has added to their fears.- Ends(Written by Sushim Mukul)