Students of Bengaluru University have recently staged a protest against the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) after a first year MSc student was run over by a government bus. The students demanded that public access to the varsity campus be restricted, including public transport, reported The New Indian Express. The incident, which took place on Monday morning near Jnanabharathi campus, left the student with grievous injuries that required her to be admitted to a hospital.
Speaking to the media outlet, Lokesh Ram, a student, claimed that this is not the first accident to happen on the campus. The student mentioned that there have been multiple incidents involving private and public vehicles in the past two months. “We are on an indefinite strike until the university decides to ban all vehicles except those of students and teaching and non-teaching staff of the university from entering the campus,” he said.
Bangalore University Vice Chancellor Dr Jayakar S M assured the students that the matter will be discussed with the state government. Meanwhile, a second wave of protests also took place due to the police taking 15-20 protesting student leaders into custody. The detained protestors were later released by the police.
The victim, Shilpa, tried to board the BMTC bus to go to a department located next to the administrative building on the campus. However, when the bus driver did not rest the vehicle, the first-year student slipped and went under its wheels. The driver and the conductor of the vehicle left the bus and fled the spot following the accident.
The police, however, have managed to detain the driver and seize the bus. The student, a resident of the girls’ hostel of the campus, was moved to the Fortis hospital in Nagarbhavi for treatment of her injuries. Her condition being critical, she had to undergo surgery and was shifted to the Fortis hospital in Bannerghatta.
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