Tributes paid to Anuj Bidve at UK memorial service

London: Tributes were paid to Indian student Anuj Bidve at Lancaster University on Sunday, where he was enrolled for a post-graduate qualification before being killed in an unprovoked attack in Salford on 26 December.

Over 200 students and staff gathered at the memorial service at the Lancaster University Chaplaincy Centre yesterday.

The university is discussing with Anuj’s family what sort of tribute would be a fitting way to celebrate his life. The university has offered financial assistance to the Bidve family, which reportedly raised a loan against their house in Pune to finance Anuj’s study in Microelectronics at Lancaster.

It was confirmed at the service that the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bob McKinlay, will visit Anuj’s parents in Pune early February to personally deliver the memorial book that was set up at the University.

At the service, Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark E Smith thanked the police, the people of Salford, and the university community for the way in which they responded.

Staff and students had met Anuj’s parents and his brother-in-law when they visited on 5 January.

The University was represented at the candlelit vigil held in Ordsall a week after his death where hundreds of people gathered and had also offered financial assistance to Anuj’s family.

Speakers at the service included Anuj’s friends, Harsha Shukla of the Lancaster and Morecambe Hindu Society, Reverend Geoff Pearson, the Anglican Bishop of Lancaster, and Shiv Pande, secretary of the Indo-British Association.

PTI