Three LPU students said the university posted a video featuring them without their consent.
The students alleged that the recording was trimmed before being shared online and said they were facing abuse and harassment.
LPU had released the video while rejecting claims that a female student was raped on campus.
Three female students of Lovely Professional University (LPU) on Monday said the university used their video without their consent and alleged that the recording was edited before being posted online. The students said they were now facing abuse and harassment over the video.
The development followed the university’s release of a video a day earlier featuring the three students, which LPU had used while rejecting claims that a female student had been raped on campus.
In a video shared on social media on Monday, the students objected to how their earlier recording had been used. One of them said the footage posted by the university had been “trimmed” and that they had not been informed about its publication.
“Our video has been trimmed and posted on Instagram. We had no idea about this, and no consent was taken from us. Now, unnecessarily, we are being abused,” she said.
Another student said: “We have no role, please leave us alone.”
LPU Denies Allegations of Rape
The university had released the video on Sunday as protests intensified on campus following claims that a female student had been raped by a plumber three days earlier.
LPU Registrar Monica Gulati had rejected the allegations, describing them as “false, baseless and fabricated” and saying that “anti-social elements” were spreading rumours.
The video released by the university included Gulati’s statement followed by comments from the three students, who were identified as occupants of Room No. 504 in a hostel.
One student said: “We are students of room number 504 and nothing of the sort has happened in our room. We have been living in the room for the past two months. Please, students and police should not come to harass us.”
Another student said they would involve their parents if they were troubled, while the third said: “And police should not come to our room repeatedly; otherwise, we will call our parents.”
Gulati said the statements indicated that “anti-social elements and individuals with vested interests” were behind the allegations.
“It is a conspiracy to tarnish the university’s reputation through false and fabricated rumours,” she said.
Protests Spread Beyond Campus
The controversy had triggered protests at the university, beginning near Girls’ Hostel-3 around 1am on Sunday. The demonstrations later escalated, with students vandalising property and blocking the New Delhi-Amritsar Highway outside the campus.
The blockade of National Highway-44 in Phagwara continued for more than 15 hours before traffic was restored on Monday, police said. Authorities said the situation had subsequently been brought under control.
The protests followed claims that a female student staying on the LPU campus had been raped.
Police have registered a case based on the complaint and constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the allegations.
