Some international students from Gujarat University suffered injuries in a late-night brawl at the hostel over offering namaz, said Ahmedabad Commissioner of Police GS Malik assuring action against the accused.
"Yesterday, at around 10:30 pm a group of students were offering Namaz. Around 20-25 people came and asked them why they were offering Namaz here & should instead read it in the Masjid. An argument broke out between them, stones were pelted and their rooms were vandalised by the people who came from outside," Malik said.
"Police took swift action & FIR has been registered against 20-25 people...Action will be taken against those involved in this...One person has been identified. Law & order situation is under control now...Two students from Sri Lanka & Tajikistan are admitted to the hospital...," he added.
The Commissioner also said that around 300 foreign students study in the University.
According to NDTV, state Home Minister Harsh Sanghavi reportedly spoke to Gujarat's top police officials and directed them to arrest the accused as soon as possible and to ensure a fair probe.
The students who are from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka were offering namaz in their rooms when a group of people allegedly protested and raised religious slogans, reported Hindustan Times.
The provocation led to an altercation between the two groups and soon, led to a brawl.
As per the students, they gathered inside the hostel to offer Taraweeh, a namaz offered at night during Ramzan, since there is no mosque inside the campus, reported NDTV. But soon a mob barged in with sticks and knives attacking and vandalising their rooms.
The hostel security guard tried to stop the mob, but failed, the students claimed, as per the NDTV report.
A student from Afghanistan who was present during the incident said that people from the mob said that they were not allowed to offer namaz in the hostel and shouted slogans of Jai Shri Ram.
"They pushed the security guard out and then attacked the people offering namaz. When other non-Muslim foreign national students came to our help, they were also attacked," Hindustan Times reported quoting the student as saying.
Their rooms were ransacked, and laptops, mobile phones, and mirrors were damaged. Five students, including two from South Africa and one each from Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Sri Lanka, have been injured," the student added.
Gujarat University Vice Chancellor Neerja Arun Gupta said that the incident took place at around 10:30 pm on Saturday and an FIR has been reigstered in connection with the case.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi sharply criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government over the incident.
"What a shame. When your devotion & religious slogans only come out when Muslims peacefully practice their religion. When you become unexplainably angry at the mere sight of Muslims. What is this, if not mass radicalisation," Owaisi said in a social media post on X.