Police book 15-20 SPPU students for stopping Vice Chancellor's car during campus protest

Chaturshrungi police have booked 15 to 20 students and activists of Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU). The allegation is that they halted the vehicle carrying Vice Chancellor Dr Suresh Gosavi and Registrar Praphull Pawar during a protest on the campus on the evening of Wednesday, November 4. The matter became public on November 6, 2026.

The police said the two officials were being driven in an official vehicle from their offices towards the Vice Chancellor's residence at around 6.15 pm. A group of student activists is alleged to have assembled in front of the main building, shouted slogans and blocked the vehicle so that it could not move ahead. Gosavi and Pawar then had to step out and walk the rest of the way to the residence, the police said.

The complaint was filed by Aba Tube, 50, a security supervisor in the university's security department. The case invokes sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) covering wrongful restraint, unlawful assembly and obstructing public servants from carrying out their official duties.

Five student representatives are named in the complaint: Rahul Sasane, Mayur Jawale, Abhijit Gore, Ajay Bansode and Kiran Saindane. One filing spells the first name as Rahul Suse. Three more people are named as well, and 10 to 15 other activists are said to have been part of the group. Police are expected to examine the allegations and establish what role each person played.

The dispute goes back to a university circular. The Management Council had passed a resolution that student protests on the campus must be confined to matters concerning the university and its students. Left-wing, progressive and Ambedkarite student organisations opposed the move, saying it took away their right to protest, and held a sit-in on November 2.

The administration then assured them that the issue would be discussed at a Management Council meeting before any decision was made. On that assurance, the organisations ended their agitation. The Council met on Wednesday, but the circular was not withdrawn. The students responded by sitting in protest outside the main building, and the officials' vehicle was stopped as they were leaving the campus.

Some of those named say they have been wrongly implicated. Mayur said he was in the crowd when the students went to meet Management Council members, but was not present when the scuffle took place. He said his name appeared in the FIR because he keeps questioning the administration.

Sasane alleged that the university is targeting Scheduled Caste (SC) students, pointing out that four of the five people named in the complaint belong to the SC category. According to him, the group has for some years been speaking up against corruption and irregularities at the university, and the case is a reaction to that.

A senior SPPU official rejected the suggestion that the FIR was based on caste. The official said the complaint lists students who were present at the protest, irrespective of their caste, and that it is for the police to verify who was there and who was not, and to act according to law.