Dehradun. What was supposed to be another quiet night in Premnagar turned into a nightmare that a family will never wake up from. A 22-year-old young man, who had left his village and everything familiar behind to build a life in Dehradun, was beaten so savagely by a rival group of college students that he did not survive the night. Three accused have been taken into custody, but the questions this incident raises go far beyond who is behind bars.
When the Night Turned Violent
It was past midnight on March 23 when the police control room received a distress call. A group of young men had come to blows in Kehri Village, Premnagar, and one of them was badly hurt. The Station House Officer reached the Community Health Centre without wasting a moment. One look at the injured youth and it was clear — this was far beyond what a local hospital could handle.
The victim was Divyanshu Jatrana, 22, from village Athai in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Like thousands of young men from small towns across the country, he had packed his bags and come to Dehradun for a college education and a shot at something better. He rented a place in Premnagar, attended classes and presumably had plans — the kind of ordinary plans a 22-year-old makes without thinking twice about whether he will live to see them through.
When the CHC ambulance failed to start, the police did not wait. They put Divyanshu in a government vehicle, drove him to Doon Hospital themselves and called his family on the way. His parents arrived. But their son had already slipped away.
A Grudge That Had Been Building
As investigators began piecing together what happened, one detail stood out immediately — both groups involved in the fight were from the same college. They sat in the same campus, possibly passed each other in the same corridors, and had been quietly nursing a bitter rivalry over something as hollow as campus dominance. Who commands more respect, whose group others think twice before crossing — that was the sum total of what this was about.
That rivalry had apparently festered for months. On the night of March 23, it finally spilled over, and when it did, it was not a scuffle — it was a beating severe enough to kill.
Three Arrested, Hunt for Others Continues
A case has been registered at Premnagar Police Station under Sections 3(5), 61(2), 103(1) and 191(2) of BNS on the basis of the family’s complaint. Three students have been taken into custody so far —
Yuvraj Kumar, 20, a second-year BBA student from Bhojpur district in Bihar, was living in Kehri Village at the time of the incident. Madhur Khandelwal, 19, a third-year B.Tech student originally from Rudrapur, and Shivam Sharma, 20, another third-year B.Tech student from Danapur in Patna — both were residing at Chitrakoota Enclave in Premnagar.
None of them are older than 20. Police have confirmed that more individuals were involved and the search for the remaining accused is ongoing.
The Cost of a Pointless War
Divyanshu’s family sent him to college. They sent him to learn, to grow, to come back one day with something to show for all the sacrifice that goes into raising a child far from home. Instead, they received a phone call in the middle of the night and arrived at a hospital to find their son beyond saving.
There is no ideology here, no cause, no grievance worth naming. Just a group of young men who let ego and group loyalty drive them to something they cannot undo. And a family left to carry a loss that nobody asked them to prepare for.
Colleges are supposed to be where young people figure out who they are. Somewhere along the way, for these students, that process went terribly wrong.
