Jalandhar: A single unverified message, amplified rapidly through social media, turned a tense situation at Lovely Professional University into a major law-and-order crisis, disrupting the peaceful academic environment of one of Punjab’s prominent private universities and leaving behind a trail of vandalism, arson and public disruption.
Five days after the violence that erupted on September 27, Punjab Police have arrested nine people in connection with the unrest and identified 20 individuals in the case, according to senior police officials. Those arrested include seven university students and two outsiders, with one of the accused being a juvenile. The suspects were traced to places including Phagwara, Jammu and Mumbai as investigators examined CCTV footage, digital evidence and material connected with the violence.
The developments were outlined by Deputy Inspector General of Police Naveen Singla at a press conference, where he was accompanied by Kapurthala Senior Superintendent of Police Gaurav Toora and Special Investigation Team in-charge Vaneet Ahlawat.
The incident has placed the powerful influence of unverified social media information under scrutiny. What began as claims about an alleged incident involving a female student inside the girls’ hostel spread rapidly among students, triggering anger and demands for accountability and greater campus security. The allegation itself remains under investigation, and police have constituted a Special Investigation Team to establish what actually happened.
LPU has consistently denied that the alleged sexual assault took place on its campus and has described the circulating claims as false, baseless and fabricated. Police, meanwhile, have registered an FIR against an unidentified person and are investigating both the original allegation and the circumstances in which the message and related material spread.
The speed with which the message travelled proved critical. Students gathered in large numbers, initially seeking answers and assurances. According to DIG Naveen Singla, the police response at the beginning was focused on communicating with students and the media and assuring them that the administration was taking the situation seriously.
The situation, however, changed dramatically when part of the crowd allegedly turned violent. Police said stones were thrown at personnel and media workers, property was damaged and several vehicles were set on fire. Singla rejected allegations that police had initiated a lathi-charge, saying that officers used limited force only after the gathering became violent and the situation had to be brought under control.
The unrest subsequently spread beyond the university premises, with students blocking the Jalandhar-Phagwara stretch of the New Delhi-Amritsar National Highway. The disruption lasted for hours, affecting movement on one of the region’s important road corridors.
For LPU, the episode represented a sharp interruption to its academic environment. The university suspended physical classes for 10 days from September 28 and postponed its mid-term examinations. Students were advised to remain in their accommodation and avoid further unrest while the situation was brought under control.
The incident also caused damage to university infrastructure and businesses operating inside the campus. Reports from the aftermath described damage to shops and other property, underlining how quickly a dispute fuelled by an unverified claim moved beyond student protest and affected people who were not directly connected with the original controversy.
At the centre of the investigation now is the question of how the original message emerged, how quickly it spread and whether the subsequent mobilisation was entirely spontaneous. Police are examining digital material and attempting to reconstruct the sequence of events. Investigators are also looking into claims of possible external or organised involvement, but such possibilities remain part of the investigation rather than established conclusions.
The episode has also highlighted the importance of verification in a large residential university environment. LPU has a substantial campus infrastructure, including extensive CCTV coverage and a large security network, and investigators are examining available footage to establish the movements of individuals before and during the violence.
The controversy was further complicated by the circulation of misleading online material. India Today’s fact-checking team, for example, found that a video purportedly showing a police officer linking the alleged incident to a political figure was a deepfake. The original video did not contain the statement attributed to the officer.
This underlines the central lesson emerging from the LPU episode: information can travel across a large campus in minutes, while establishing the truth can take considerably longer.
Lovely Professional University now faces the task of restoring complete normalcy, rebuilding confidence among students and staff, and allowing its academic activities to return to their regular rhythm. The police investigation will determine responsibility for the violence and establish the facts surrounding the original allegation.
The wider concern, however, extends beyond LPU. In an environment where messages can be forwarded thousands of times before their authenticity is established, an unverified claim can quickly transform anxiety into confrontation. The events at LPU demonstrate how costly that transformation can be—for students, the university, local businesses, police personnel and the wider community.
For LPU, a university whose functioning depends fundamentally on a safe and stable academic environment, the immediate priority is the restoration of that environment. The ongoing investigation will determine what happened, who was responsible and how the chain of events unfolded. Until then, the distinction between a claim, a verified fact and an allegation remains crucial.