A day of large-scale property damage and open lawlessness at Lovely Professional University has left everyone connected to the campus searching for answers. The question on the lips of students, staff, campus authorities, politicians and even the media is simple: who actually triggered the mayhem?
The sequence of incidents that unfolded on Sunday has baffled observers. Nobody — not the university, not the police, not the students — has been able to say with certainty what set it off.
Three Theories Behind the LPU Mayhem
Three possible explanations are doing the rounds. The first is that it was a plain rumour that spun out of control. The second is that outsiders were tasked to create trouble on the campus. The third is that it was the result of a political rivalry involving the owners of LPU.
Students, authorities and even the police do not rule out the presence of outsiders at the campus. A majority of them believe the day's events were part of a design to target LPU.
Why the Political Angle Is Being Discussed
The political link being discussed is the recent switch of LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal. He left AAP to join the BJP a few months back. That shift has led many observers to wonder whether the trouble at the campus was connected to this political change.
The confusion has only grown because the campus is still dealing with the fallout of an FIR. The FIR was lodged for the rape of an "unknown girl" against "unknown persons". Even a day after the FIR was registered, the picture has not become clearer.
- The FIR names no specific accused — it is against "unknown persons"
- The complaint itself refers to an "unknown girl"
- No clear trigger for the violence has been established
- Outsiders' involvement has not been ruled out by students, authorities or police
Our Take: The Real Question Is Accountability
In our view, the most troubling part of this story is not any single theory — it is that a full day of property damage and lawlessness could happen on a university campus without anyone being able to say who started it. That is a failure of both campus security and local policing.
To put it plainly, rumours do not destroy property on their own. Someone spreads them. Someone acts on them. If outsiders were involved, the police need to identify them and explain how they entered the campus. If the trigger was political, that needs to be investigated honestly, not brushed aside.
The FIR against "unknown persons" over an "unknown girl" adds to the confusion rather than reducing it. An FIR that names nobody gives the public no way to judge whether the investigation is moving at all.
For students and parents, the message they are getting right now is that a campus can be damaged, an FIR can be filed, and a day later there are still no clear answers. That is not acceptable. The authorities owe the public a clear, factual account of what happened on Sunday — who was present, who was not a student, and what the police have found so far.
Until that happens, every theory — rumour, outsiders, or political rivalry — will keep circulating. And in the absence of facts, the rumour will win.
