Panjab University rape accused was in ‘bogus team’
Chandigarh, Feb 25 – A Panjab University student arrested on rape charges while on an educational trip to Boston was not a member of the official delegation but that of a ‘bogus’ team which got affidavits and varsity documents to support its participation at a conference in the US.
Nitin Jindal, 22, a student of University Institute of Law Studies (UILS), went to the US to participate in the 56th session of Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN) held in Boston Feb 11-14.
He was arrested Feb 14 following a complaint of rape by a local resident there but was later released on bail after he submitted a guarantee of $2,500. However, police confiscated his passport and visa documents and asked him not to leave the US till April 6, when the next hearing is slated.
A committee, constituted by the Panjab University (PU) to look into the issue, found that two PU teams — one from the UILS and the other from the University School of Law — had participated in the conference.
However, PU authorities are stunned as no institute with the name University School of Law exists here.
‘We received a formal reply from HNMUN Wednesday. They have informed us two teams participated in the conference. The UILS was our official team but there is no department called University School of Law in the PU,’ a member of the committee said here Thursday.
‘Now we are trying to ascertain the details of participants of this bogus team and how they got the affidavit and PU documents to support their case. We will submit our final inquiry report tomorrow (Friday),’ he said.
This year, the PU officially sent 21 students to participate in the HNMUN event but the arrested student was among 25 others who had applied online in their individual capacity.
There are reports that a few students, who are not even studying at the PU, had participated in this conference on the documents of this varsity.
Jindal, who hails from Bathinda town in Punjab, is currently staying with his cousin in Boston.
