Overview
- Chitkara University announced that September 28 to October 1 will be non-teaching working days and said faculty and staff must report for duty as usual.
- The disruption follows unverified social media claims that surfaced after students reported screams and ambulances near the girls’ hostel on September 24, which drove large assemblies demanding answers.
- Those assemblies escalated into vandalism and clashes with police, including smashed windows, damaged campus infrastructure, attacks on police vehicles and officers being manhandled.
- Patiala/Banur police and local medical authorities have stated no deaths or post-mortems were recorded and the university said the ambulance and a priest’s visit were unrelated to any death; a police inquiry into the circulating allegations is under way.
- The episode fits a wider pattern of rapid campus unrest triggered by viral rumours, leaves academic routines disrupted until classes resume on October 5 unless the situation changes, and will hinge on the outcome of the police investigation and clearer campus communications.