This story is from September 25, 2014

Traders in lanka area of Varanasi close shops, stage sit-in

Traders of Lanka area on Wednesday kept their shops closed and staged a sit in at Ravidas Gate in protest against assault on a shopkeeper and damage done to many shops and vehicles allegedly by a mob of Banaras Hindu University students on Tuesday night.
Traders in lanka area of Varanasi close shops, stage sit-in
VARANASI: Traders of Lanka area on Wednesday kept their shops closed and staged a sit in at Ravidas Gate in protest against assault on a shopkeeper and damage done to many shops and vehicles allegedly by a mob of Banaras Hindu University students on Tuesday night.
According to reports, some residents of Prafull Nagar Colony in Lanka area are running girls’ hostels in their buildings and a large number of youths allegedly gather near these hostels in evening.
On Tuesday night some youths were sitting there when locals raised objection.
A shopkeeper Santosh Chaurasia asked the youths to quit the place immediately following which the youths left the place but returned with more youths and thrashed Santosh. Other traders ran towards the incident site to save Santosh but before they could reach most of the assailants had fled from the scene. The locals caught two of the assailants and handed them over to the police.
Following the incident about 200 students came out of Banaras Hindu University campus. Initially they raided the police station and damaged vehicles after rescuing the two youth. Later, they raided Prafull Nagar again where they damaged many vehicles and the shop of Santosh. Before returning to varsity capus they also damaged many shops and ATMs in Lanka area. The news of incident brought the officials on their toes. The SP (city) Sudhakar Yadav along with heavy police force and PAC reached Lanka area.
To mark their protest against the incident the traders of Lanka market kept their shops closed and gathered near Ravidas Gate to stage a sit-in stir. Addressing a meeting there they expressed concern over increasing menace of students. They alleged that despite informing police about the gatherings near girls’ hostels in Prafull Nagar area the cops never took notice of it and instead avoided visiting the colony after violence to take stock of the situation.

Bhelupur CO Somen Verma reached Ravidas Gate to hold talk with traders. On the demand of traders the deputy chief proctor of BHU Prof Anand Kumar was also called there. The traders made complaints against students and later, it was decided that a joint committee of the officials of district administration, police, BHU and traders will be constituted to put a check on the mischievous activities of students.
The traders also demanded to install CCTV cameras on the varsity campus and keep special watch on the students coming out of the varsity campus in big groups especially in evening and night hours. After the officials assured to fulfill their demands the traders ended their stir. An FIR against unidentified students was also lodged with Lanka police in this connection.
End of Article
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA