BITS Pilani shocker: After threats, Kashmiri scholar forced to leave course midway

A Kashmiri scholar, pursuing a specialisation course in BITS Pilani, Rajasthan, was threatened by unknown miscreants recently.

Srinagar, April 24: A Kashmiri Junior Research Fellow in the Pharmacy, Science and Engineering Research Board in the prestigious Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Rajasthan, was forced to leave his course midway after he was threatened in the college campus.

According to News 18, Hashim Sofi, 27, was so petrified by the incident that he decided to leave BITS, Pilani for his home in Bandipore, Kashmir last week. He reported the incident to the college authorities before returning home.

Sofi said some unknown miscreants scribbled threats on his shirts and the door of his hostel room. Sofi was an inmate of the Maliya Bhavan Hostel in the institute. He told News 18 that on Friday morning, he was shocked to see the threats written on his shirt he had left to dry in the open, and the door.

"The abuses shocked me. I reported the matter to my warden and guide. They were very sad, they had been supporting me all along," he said. "What did I do? I fail to understand," he added.

The college assured Sofi that he was safe and asked him to concentrate on his studies. However, the threats were so intimidating to Sofi that he did not want to risk his life for education. Moreover, his family in Kashmir also asked him to come back home immediately as his life was more important than anything else.

In fact, Sofi joined the college just 20 days ago before the incident happened on April 20. "My parents told me there was no need to stay and endanger your life. I may even return to the campus, but it will require a lot of convincing to get my parents' nod," he said.

The institute issued a statement on the entire episode. "The institute has taken a very serious note of the news item and asked the standing committee on student affairs to further investigate the matter and report back swiftly."

The incident happened just few days after several Kashmiri students were brutally beaten up right in front of the Mewar University in Rajasthan by a group of local people. The Kashmiri students were called as "stone pelters", the enemy of the country and its army.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had asked all the state governments to take necessary action to provide safe environments for all the Kashmiri students pursuing education in various parts of the country.

Kashmiris across the country are facing backlash in various parts of the country after several incidents of violence and stone pelting have been reported from the trouble-torn state in recent times.

OneIndia News