Besides the civil defamation case filed against Mr Vijay Sampla and his Aides for making and publishing false and defamatory accusations, the university has filed another case in the Phagwara court against them.
The case has been filed by the university alleging that Mr Vijay Sampla and his aides, son Sahil Sampla and supporter Amit Taneja, in connivance with each
other with the common intention to damage the reputation of the university joined together and levelled false, frivolous and defamatory allegations upon the university thereby committing the offence of criminal defamation under Sections 500 and 34 of IPC (Indian Penal Code). University has complained that after Mr Vijay Sampla and his aides have levelled the wrong allegations on the university, through various media, many people of the general public as well as the students and their parents and people with whom the complainant is in contact have been suspicious, shocked, and disturbed.
They all have been constantly contacting the officials and staff of the complainant at the university to enquire about the truth of these allegations. Such an attitude of Mr Vijay Sampla and his aides is very harmful to the public image of the university, thereby adversely affecting the repute of the complainant. University further complained that this has also caused a lot of mental agonies, harassment and trauma to the officials and staff of the complainant of the University and has also created anxiety and panic amongst the student community and their parents, and are also to tarnish the hard-earned repute and image of the university. University has further clarified that it has not done any wrong and has been a law-abiding university.
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University has duly complied with and acted as per all respective orders and instructions issued by the Government of Punjab and Government of India from time to time as applicable. The university has said that on March 13, 2020, the Department of Higher Education Punjab had ordered to suspend classes from March 14 to
March 31, 2020.
The university has suspended the classes accordingly. That order did not mention to get the hostels vacated. On 21 March 2020, the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development told all educational institutions to let students stay in hostels in view of the Coronavirus outbreak.
On 27 March 2020, the University Grants Commission, HRD Ministry, Government of India, again urged all universities and colleges for accommodation and safety of the students still residing in hostels. There were 22625 students in the hostels, out of which 20090 (close to 90%) had left before the lockdown imposed. However, due to the closure of air-rail travels and other means of transport, restricted public movement and flights and reservations cancelled, the rest of the students, who were willing to go back to their hometowns, could not go, therefore the students staying in hostels were allowed to continue to stay in hostels as per instructions of the Government of India.
University has mentioned that it has been putting constant efforts to send the students staying in hostels to go to their hometowns and has also written and approached various government offices for the same. University also said that contrary to Mr Vijay Sampla allegation that the university had sent Bhutan students back only after when they raised this issue, as a matter of fact, the university had already sent a group of Bhutanese students on 28th March 2020, much before 12th April 2020 when Mr Vijay Sampla started making false allegations against the university.
Hearing for this case is now fixed for 27th May 2020. It may be noted that if summoned by the court and later found guilty, after evidence and trial, can lead to a maximum punishment of imprisonment up to 2 years or fine or both in this case.