The booked students alleged that the administration has filed a fake FIR under pressure from right-wing groups.
Sana Ejaz | TwoCircles.net
NEW DELHI — Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday booked two students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) for allegedly organizing a protest inside the campus on December 6 to mark the 30th anniversary of the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh.
On December 6, 1992, the mosque was demolished by Hindutva extremists because they believed that it stood on land that was the birthplace of Hindu deity Ram. The incident had triggered communal riots across the country.
The students who held the event this week allegedly had posters calling December 6 as “Black Day”.
The first information report was filed under Indian Penal Code sections 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 295-A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 298 (uttering words etc with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person), a police official at Aligarh’s Civil Lines Police Station told Scroll.in.
The youth were booked after the BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha had threatened that if no arrests are made in the case by Monday, they will take out a protest march to the office of the Aligarh Superintendent of Police.
A day after the event at the AMU campus, Hindutva organizations like Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), including Bajrang Dal and Hindu Yuva Vahini, held a Mahapanchayat, demanding action against the students and threatening to organize Shaurya Diwas on the AMU campus if action was not taken.
One of the booked students Salman Gauri told TwoCircles.net that “students were discussing Babri demolition incident only among themselves and no protest or march was taken out.”
He said that “students didn’t talk about breaking the temple or spreading violations.”
“All the allegations against us are baseless. Whatever we have done, we have done within the ambit of the constitution,” he said.
Gauri alleged that the administration has filed a fake FIR under pressure from right-wing groups.
Another booked student Farid Ahmed told TwoCircles.net that the student gathering was not against any religion. “On 6 December 1992, the constitution of the country was mocked with the demolition of the Babri masjid. This was the reason that we had had gathered and held a discussion,” he said.
Zaki-ur-Rahman, a student of linguistics, told Newsclick that a “group of students took out a protest march from the library canteen to Chunki Market in a democratic way. After reaching there, a public discussion was organised. No student said a single word against any religion or made any remarks against the Supreme Court decision.”
Rahman alleged that Hindu outfits are “exaggerating the issue and pressuring the district administration to arrest AMU students. Otherwise, they have threatened to organise a rally,” Newsclick reported.
Sana Ejaz is an independent journalist from Bihar. She tweets @SanaEjaz_