Violent protests erupted at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar on Saturday after unverified social media reports claimed that a female student had been raped and subsequently died by suicide. The incident came barely a day after similar rumours about the alleged suicides of two female students triggered protests and violence at Chitkara University in Patiala.
At LPU, hundreds of students gathered on campus after the claims circulated widely on social media. The protest later turned violent, with students allegedly damaging university property, smashing window panes and setting parts of buildings on fire. Protesters also blocked the Delhi-Amritsar National Highway around 4 am, demanding registration of an FIR against the alleged accused.
Police from three districts were rushed to the campus to bring the situation under control. Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police Gaurav Toora said police from Jalandhar Rural, Hoshiarpur and Kapurthala were deployed after the control room received information about a law-and-order situation around 2 am.
According to Toora, the unrest was triggered by rumours alleging that a female student had been raped and later died by suicide. He said the Kapurthala police had received no complaint in recent days regarding such an incident.“The students complained that their repeated requests for a detailed investigation into these reports went unheard at the varsity level,” Toora said.
He added that vehicular movement on the national highway had since resumed and that further action would be taken after an assessment of the damage caused during the protests.
The university, however, rejected the allegations as false and fabricated. LPU Registrar Monica Gulati said in a statement that “anti-social elements” were spreading baseless rumours through social media and other channels, creating confusion among students and attempting to disturb the university’s academic environment.
The university said the circulation of the claims appeared to be a deliberate attempt to damage its reputation. It appealed to students, parents and the public not to believe or amplify unverified reports and to rely only on official communications.
Chitkara rocked by similar rumours
The LPU unrest followed violent protests at Chitkara University near Rajpura on Friday night, where rumours about the alleged suicides of two female students spread rapidly across social media.
Posts circulating among students claimed that two freshers had died by suicide in a campus hostel and that the university administration was attempting to suppress the information. The rumours gained momentum after some students said they had heard screams on the night of September 24 and noticed two ambulances on the campus.
Hundreds of students gathered late on September 25 seeking answers from the university administration. The protest subsequently escalated, with protesters allegedly vandalising university property, smashing window panes and damaging furniture. A government police vehicle was also allegedly vandalised, while KSM outpost in-charge Ajay Kumar was reportedly manhandled during the confrontation.
Some protesters further alleged that Kumar had arrived at the scene in an intoxicated condition. He was subsequently taken for a medical examination, according to reports.
Patiala Senior Superintendent of Police Harmandeep Singh Hans said no suicide or death had been reported on the university campus by students, their families or university authorities.
Civil Hospital Rajpura senior medical officer Dr Sharanpreet Goraya also said no post-mortem involving a Chitkara University student had been conducted at the hospital in recent days.
The alleged disappearance of two female students also became part of the rumours. Banur DSP Sukhdev Singh said protesters had claimed that two girls were missing, but no names, photographs or other identifying details had been provided to police.
Patiala SP Mohit Agarwal said the situation had been brought under control. Police were examining CCTV footage to reconstruct the sequence of events and identify those allegedly involved in vandalism and attacks on police personnel.
What the University says
Chitkara University Registrar Col Rakesh Sharma (retd) dismissed the suicide allegations as baseless, saying the situation on campus was normal.
In a public appeal, the university urged students not to believe unverified messages circulating in private groups and said the local administration and police were coordinating with university officials to address concerns.
The university acknowledged that an ambulance had reached a hostel in the early hours of September 24, but said it had no connection with any death or suicide. According to the university, the ambulance had brought back a female student who had returned from hospital. She was taken to her room at around 2.50 am, it said.
The administration also sought to clarify rumours surrounding the presence of a priest at the hostel. Some students had linked his visit to alleged rituals or “superstitious activities” in a room. The university said the man had arrived around 3 pm to meet his daughter, who was a student there, and that his visit had no connection with any death or suicide.
Communication gap
The developments at the two universities have highlighted how rapidly unverified claims circulating on social media can trigger panic on large campuses.
At both institutions, students demanded clarification from the administration, while university authorities denied the allegations and urged students to rely on verified information. At Chitkara, however, the rumours escalated into vandalism and confrontation with police. At LPU, the allegations resulted in a major law-and-order situation, damage to property and the temporary blocking of a national highway.
Police investigations at both campuses are expected to establish how the rumours originated, whether any underlying incident was misrepresented online and who was responsible for the subsequent violence.
For now, authorities and the universities have denied the alleged deaths and rape-suicide claims described in the viral social media posts.
