NIT in Srinagar shut down after clashes over India's defeat

The National Institute of Technology (NIT) here was shut down today till further orders in the wake of clashes between local and non-local students over India's defeat in yesterday's semi final clash with West Indies in the ongoing World T20 Cup.

A local student said the non-local students were irked by the celebrations witnessed in Kashmir last night following India's defeat.

"The non-local students, being in majority in the NIT, just picked up a fight with local students and thrashed few of them," alleged the student, who did not wish to be named.

The NIT, which was earlier known as Regional Engineering College, has nearly 2500 students and 400 academic staff members. "There was



an unruly situation on campus and we thought it provident to shut down the campus till further orders as a precautionary measure," an official of the NIT said.

He said there was some altercation between local and non-local students which led to sloganeering. The NIT authorities have asked all the students to vacate the hostels but have not evicted them yet, the official said.

The decision to close down the campus will be reviewed from time to time. "As and when we feel that the situation has returned to normalcy, the order will be revoked," he added.

Many students have left the hostel but some of the students are still putting up in their rooms, a local student said.