BURDWAN: A third-year student of Information Technology at NIT Durgapur was assaulted by students inside the college hostel on Friday afternoon after he wrote a Facebook post on the Pulwama attack ruing how innocent soldiers were being turned into pawns by political leaders eager to hide their own failures. Srijan Goswami, the student, received injuries on his face and hands. He was rescued by some of his friends and Srijan had left the hostel and returned to his home at Burdwan’s Baburbag. On Monday afternoon, he returned to the hostel and attended classes following assurances from the hostel warden.“On Friday, I had shared my opinion in a Bengali post on my Facebook account.After a while, some of my classmates started pressuring me to withdraw it. But I refused and told them that I have the freedom to express my opinion. Then, more students gathered and suddenly I found myself surrounded by 25-30 students who started hitting me. They tore my shirt, kicked me and punched me on my face. Fortunately, a few other students came to my rescue, brought me to my room and locked it from inside. I called my father and he came to the hostel. I left for my home immediately,” said Srijan. His father has lodged a complaint with the director of NIT Durgapur through an e-mail.In his complaint, Srijan’s father Shyamsundar Goswami mentioned that his son was attacked by his hostel mates on Friday ‘for sharing his opinion about the Pulwama attack’. “They abused him physically and verbally. They also asked him not to post or share anything in future and threatened that he will have to face the consequences if he did. I think everyone has the right to express his opinion on social media. It may be for or against anybody or any institution. If anybody dislikes it he should ignore it or protest against it on that page,” said the complaint.On Monday, hostel warden Suvamoy Chongdar met Srijan’s parents and assured them that steps will be taken to ensure that the incident was not repeated. But they failed to meet the director who is out of station. “Some policemen met me on campus and asked me why I had not lodged a complaint with the police. I told them that we did not wish to punish anyone and were keen to ensure that my son continued to study here.” On Monday, Srijan attend some classes and went back to his hostel.

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