An angry mob entered the university campus and went on a ransacking spree.
Providing relief to flood-hit people of Jammu and Kashmir is a priority area for the Narendra Modi government. But the Vice-Chancellor of a university in Ujjain was attacked on Monday, allegedly by radical saffron groups, for asking students to help the people in J&K.
Jawahar Lal Kaul, Vice-Chancellor of Vikram University, had also appealed to local landlords to waive rent for Kashmiri students of his university, who were in financial trouble owing to the condition of their families back home. That did not go down well with men from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, who took it upon themselves to confront him.
Mr Kaul, who was discharged from the hospital today, told NDTV, "A group had come to my office and I was telling them that I have made such an appeal, when they suddenly turned violent".
The mob ransacked the office, damaging furniture and computers, and targetted other areas of the university.
"What happened with a professor (earlier) flashed before my eyes and I felt sick. My colleagues managed to rescue me and sent me to a hospital," said Mr Kaul, who was discharged today after spending a day in the hospital.
The "professor" he referred to was Professor HS Sabharwal, who had died of cardiac arrest eight years ago in Ujjain after he was allegedly manhandled by workers of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. But all the accused were let off by the court for want of evidence.
The Vikram University was shut today in protest against the violence. "We condemn what has happened with our VC, so we have shut the university," said Kamal Joshi, a leader of the university's teachers' association.
The Congress, too, took up the case, gheraoing the office of the superintendent of police and demanding immediate action.
Two people were arrested in connection with the vandalism.