Gujarat university namaz row: 7 foreign students asked to vacate hostel

Six students from Afghanistan and one from East Africa have been asked to vacate the Gujarat University's hostel rooms for overstaying, an official said on Sunday, in a move coming weeks after some foreign students were attacked for offering namaz on the premises.

An Afghan and a Gambian delegation had visited the university days after the March 16 attack and held a meeting with the vice-chancellor over safety measures.

Talking to PTI, the university’s vice-chancellor Neerja Gupta said, "Six students from Afghanistan and one from East Africa were asked to vacate their hostel rooms after they were found overstaying.” These persons had completed their studies and were staying in the hostel as ex-students due to some pending administrative work, she said.

The university has ensured that they are no longer required to stay in the hostel and arranged for them to return to their respective countries, Gupta said.

“We have completed the required paperwork and they can now safely return to their native countries. We don't want to keep any former students in our hostel. We have informed the consulates of the respective countries, and they have also directed these students to vacate the hostel,” the vice-chancellor said.

More than 300 international students are enrolled in Gujarat University, she said.

Around two dozen people barged into the government-run university's hostel on the night of March 16 and assaulted students from foreign countries for offering namaz at one of the blocks during the ongoing month of Ramzan, police said.

Two students from Sri Lanka and Tajikistan were hospitalised following the incident.