On Friday night, students at Chitkara University in Patiala staged a protest after circulating rumors that two female students had committed suicide. Footage of a Punjab Police patrol van with dents circulated on social media, sparking outrage among the campus crowd.
The local police, led by DSP Sukhdev Singh, met with the students and received a formal complaint. Officers said they could not identify the missing girls and that the rumors were unsubstantiated, but they pledged to verify each student’s status and investigate the vehicle damage.
Registrar Rakesh Sharma, a retired officer, addressed the demonstrators and asserted that no such incident had occurred. He urged students to rely on official university communication and dismissed the rumors as baseless.
In a statement posted on the university’s social media, Chitkara’s administration confirmed it was working closely with local authorities. The statement also reaffirmed that academic and placement schedules would proceed as planned on Saturday, September 26.
The protest has left a ripple of uncertainty. One student, who asked to remain anonymous, said she felt uneasy walking the campus after the incident, hoping the investigation clears the campus of any doubt.