It is February all over again. The venue this time, it seems, is Aligarh Muslim University.
On Tuesday evening, draconian colonial era sedition charges were slapped on as many as fourteen named and more unnamed students of the varsity. These students include current and former members of the Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union.
The charges followed an alleged confrontation between some of the students of the varsity with a crew of Republic TV covering a report on campus, and with some members of the BJP’s youth wing. The complaints in the local police station were filed by Bhartiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha district leader Mukesh Lodhi. Internet services, mobile as well as wi-fi, were snapped on campus and in Aligarh late Wednesday evening.
Republic TV On Campus
Earlier on Tuesday, many students of the varsity took to social networking sites accusing a crew of Republic TV reporting live from the campus that, “We’re standing in the university of terrorists.” A student alleged in their tweet that after some students tried to intervene, a cameraman “manhandled” the students, calling everyone “terrorists.” A ruckus ensued. One of the crew later filed a complaint in the police station alleging that the AMU security officer and students “misbehaved” with her and her colleagues.
In another Facebook post, a student alleged that after he and some other students asked the crew to leave the campus since they had not been invited and had not sought any permission to do so, they tried to get back to them by going live and saying, “We are reporting live from the university of terrorists.” The university’s security officials intervened and the crew left the main campus after exchanging verbal slurs with the students present on the scene.
Owaisi Won’t Be Allowed To Enter The Campus
Reports of Owaisi having been invited to AMU for a meeting on campus had been doing rounds in the local media for a few days. Members of Hindu Mahasabha and local BJP leaders were quoted as saying, “Owaisi won’t be allowed to enter the campus.”
On Tuesday, after the Republic TV crew had left the campus, gunshots were heard outside Bab-e-Syed, the main entrance of the campus, near University Circle.
“Outsiders, people who are not even enrolled in the university, with stickers of BJP on their bikes, were roaming on the campus and hitting students. Later they sat outside the registrar’s office. After students and AMUSU office bearers reached the spot, they hurled abuses and started leaving. While leaving, they fired gunshots on students, which have been caught on camera,” Huzaifa, Secretary AMUSU told Campus Watch.
The marchers on bikes, it seems, were opposing Owaisi being invited to the campus. However, no evidence of the Member of Parliament Asaduddin Owaisi having been invited to the campus has surfaced yet.
Sedition Charges
After one of the reporters of the TV crew and the BJPYM district president filed a complaint in the police station, fourteen and more students were charged with sedition, under sections 147, 148, 392, 307, 323, 504, 124-A, 153-A, and 153-B. No charges had been pressed based on the complaint of the students till this report was filed.
In an online statement, AMUSU wrote “Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union rejects the FIR lodged by saffron terrorists in the local police station against the students of the university. The charges of sedition and others are frivolous and based on falsehood and fraud. The FIR symbolises extreme repression by the state.
AMUSU reiterates that the University was running peacefully and it was the people associated with BJP and its allied media house Republic TV who disrupted the campus harmony. The facts must be placed before the nation that it was a normal day at the university and regular campus activities were being conducted.”
Late Wednesday evening, hundreds of students were protesting on campus against the charges and suspension of some of the students by the university administration.
“We demand fake charges to be revoked and strict and swift action against those miscreants who tried to disrupt the campus harmony,” Huzaifa adds.