Even as the Gujarat Government has been making efforts in India and abroad to market the state as a global destination for investors, tourists and students, citing amicable atmosphere, nearly 20 Indian and foreign students were injured, one of them critically, as violence broke out between them on the campus of a Vadodara-based private university late on Sunday night.

Police said the injured were being treated at a hospital on the Parul University’s Waghodia campus. Police also detained around 20 students, including eight foreign nationals, and filed two first information reports (FIRs).

Aniruddhsinh Kamadia, Police Sub-Inspector (PSI), Waghodia Police Station, said the incident happened when the two groups of students got embroiled in a verbal altercation near international hostel. Soon, many others came there to support the two sides, that led to the clash. Police also summoned reinforcement from various other areas to bring the situation under control.

Following the clash, the university authorities shut down the hostels and closed down the campus until the situation improved.

Those injured include six students from Afghanistan, two from Uganda, and one from Congo while the remaining are Indian students. Taking a serious note of the incident, the police said it would initiate stringent action soon against those involved. “We are yet to identify some of the miscreants but they would all be behind bars at the earliest irrespective of their nationality.”

A large contingent of police was deployed at the university campus as uneasy calm prevailed there on Monday.

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