Online claims and arrests intensify scrutiny after violence involving Punjab communities
Authorities in Punjab are examining online activity after two people were arrested over allegedly inflammatory posts linked to unrest at Punjab University. Separately, the killing of queer influencer and makeup artist Mad Sandhu in Amritsar has drawn attention to deleted responsibility claims, reported threats and concerns about the safety of LGBTQA+ people, though the supplied reports do not establish that the incidents are connected.
Police in Punjab have arrested two people over social-media posts allegedly linked to a protest at Punjab University, while investigators continue examining online messages said to have contributed to unrest, according to NDTV. The report does not identify the suspects, specify the posts, state the offences under consideration or provide details of the protest’s scale and timing. It also contains no statements from the arrested people, their lawyers or university officials.
Police have not, in the supplied material, established that the two suspects caused the unrest. The inquiry is focused on whether messages circulated by students and others described by police as alleged troublemakers intensified tensions. NDTV did not report verified injuries, property damage, university disciplinary measures, a closure or further arrests.
The legal status of the two people remains subject to investigation. Separately, The Hindu reported that LGBTQA+ influencer and makeup artist Madhusudan, known as Mad Sandhu, was shot dead by unidentified men travelling on motorcycles in Amritsar on Saturday. Reports that social-media accounts had claimed responsibility subsequently emerged, but the posts were no longer available when the newspaper examined the case.
One alleged claim was attributed to an account named Goldy Dhillon. Amritsar Commissioner of Police Harmanbir Singh Gill said investigators could not verify the authenticity of posts made from abroad, while adding that the case was being examined from multiple angles. The Hindu also reported that police attention had extended to Sikh radical groups after an audio-video clip, said to be three months old, allegedly showed a confrontation between Sandhu and Nihang jathedar Manpreet Singh Khalsa.
The report does not say that any individual or group has been charged with the killing. Sandhu had more than 232,000 Instagram followers and founded Mane Lane Unisex Salon. The Hindu said the killing prompted reactions from queer groups and political voices in Punjab.
Members of Queering in Chandigarh said queer people had received threatening messages from anonymous accounts, while the Panjab Feminist Union of Students said threats against the community were not new. The reports describe two different developments involving online material in Punjab: arrests connected by police to Punjab University unrest, and disappearing posts examined during a murder investigation in Amritsar. They do not provide evidence that the cases are linked.
The immediate confirmed facts are the two arrests in the university-related inquiry and the ongoing investigation into Sandhu’s killing, with responsibility for both matters unresolved in the supplied material.
Vertrix News compared the attributed reports listed below and wrote this independent synthesis. Claims remain attributed where independent verification was unavailable.
Sources
- The Hindu
- NDTV