Jammu medical college students injured in clash over ‘The Kerala Story’

A 23-year-old student who was brutally assaulted during communal violence at Jammu’s prestigious Government Medical College (GMC) has been suspended by the college administration along with nine other students. An internal inquiry has been ordered into the violence which left five students injured on the intervening night of May 14 and 15, one of them grievously, when two groups of students clashed with each other at the GMC Jammu’s ‘Boys Hostel’.Sources said that tensions flared up on May 14, Sunday, when Deepak Chandel, a first year MBBS student, posted a link on the controversial Bollywood film The Kerala Story in a students’ WhatApp group with an acerbic comment: “A must watch for woke people.” The one who objected was later confronted and assaulted inside the hostel, leading to the scuffle as more and more students, along with some outsiders, joined the ruckus.

The film was banned in West Bengal and is also facing an 'unofficial' ban in Tamil Nadu.Going by the trade reports, The Kerala Story is having a phenomenal run in theatres. The film saw a huge drop on Monday, May 15, and earned nearly Rs 10 crore (nett) in India. This is almost a 50 per cent drop when compared to Sunday (May 14) collection, which stands at Rs 23 crore.This takes the 11-day total collection to Rs 146.74 crore in India. The film registered an occupancy of 20.30 per cent on May 15. The film ran into trouble when the trailer claimed that 32,000 women from Kerala were affected by this. After legal intervention, the makers changed the description of the film's trailer from 'story of 32,000 women' to that of three women. This sparked a huge debate where people questioned the intention of the film.