Authorities at Kerala University have denied permission to conduct a stage show featuring Bollywood actress Sunny Leone citing possible crowd management issues for an event of such magnitude. The event, which was scheduled to be held at the engineering college in the university’s Kariavattom campus, located on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram city, according to authorities, violates the government guidelines for cultural programmes in campuses.

In November 2024, four students died and several others were injured after a stampede at a music concert headlined by singer Nikhita Gandhi in Kerala’s Cochin University. To avoid a repetition of a similar incident, the authorities had issued guidelines to conduct programmes in colleges.

Even though fresh guidelines were issued for future events, this particular show, according to authorities, does not comply with the set guidelines.

“We had secured permission to conduct the event, but did not inform the authorities who the guest performer would be, as we were still chalking out details at that time. We were about the get the remaining clearances from police, fire force etc., when we were informed that the authorities would not be giving us the permission to hold this particular event.

The authorities feel that a The authorities feel that a show featuring a popular actor like Sunny Leone will attract a larger crowd and that could cause security issues,” says a student member, who is part of the organising team.

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The vice-chancellor of Kerala University has refused to authorise a dance performance featuring actor Sunny Leone at the University College of Engineering campus in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, on July 5.

According to reports, vice-chancellor Dr Mohanan Kunnummal had directed the registrar to ensure Leone’s performance was excluded from the programme list.

This order follows a stampede that occurred last November during a concert at the Cochin University of Science and Technology in Ernakulam. It resulted in the death of four students and injured over 60 others.

Following the incident, the state government banned DJ nights and parties on college campuses. Reportedly, Kunnummal further stated that the college union had not sought the varsity’s approval for the show.