As many as seventeen students who have sat on hunger strike in protest against the administration of the English and Foreign Language University’s (EFLU) in Hyderabad have been named by the police in an FIR, following a complaint by EFLU Registrar Narasimha Rao Kedari. This is the third FIR against students who have been protesting for close to four weeks against administrative negligence and the sexual assault of a female student on campus.
“The University is worried that their acts may lead to inciting violence on the campus,” read the complaint. In the complaint, the professor also refers to ‘written and pictorial slogans and warnings’ which he alleges are a witness to their intentions of threatening the University and the government.
The Registrar has also said that the students were using objectionable slogans like, ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ (Long live revolution) and ‘Tum Zameen pe Zulm likho, wahi pe Inquilab Likha Jayega (You commit atrocities on the body, we will mark the same with revolution). He further stated that the slogans drawn by the protestors at the main entrance of the University is ‘a cause of our concern.’
Similarly referring to the slogans used by the protesting students, the Registrar has now invoked the Delhi High Court’s exception to the use of the word ‘Inquilab Zindabad.’
Interestingly, student leader, Umar Khalid, incarcerated for over three years under the draconian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), had during his arguments before a Delhi Court argued that it is not a crime to criticise the prime minister or use words like ‘inquilab”, “krantikari” in speeches adding that these are, in no way incitements to violence. Justice Bhatnagar of a Delhi High Court’s had remarked while hearing Umar Khalid’s bail plea that using the term ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ was ‘objectionable’. The court had then said, “Revolution by itself isn’t always bloodless, which is why it is contradistinctly used with the prefix – a ‘bloodless’ revolution. So, when we use the expression “revolution‟, it is not necessarily bloodless.”
Ironically, a court in Delhi itself, had four years earlier (March 2, 2016) granted bail to student-activist and leader, Kanhaiya Kumar after arrest at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) where, he too had in a speech referred to the rights of the marginalised to raise their voices in protest with slogans, including using the oft-used term ‘Inquilab Zindabad.’. “My mother is an Anganwadi sewika, my family runs with the Rs 3,000 she earns and they are abusing her. I’m ashamed that in this country, the mothers of the poor, Dalit farmers are not part of Mother India. I will hail the mothers of this country, I will hail the fathers of this country, I will hail the mothers and sisters of this country, I will hail the poor farmers, Dalits, tribals and labourers. I will tell them that if they have courage, then say ‘ Inquilab zindabad’, say ‘Bhagat Singh zindabad’, say ‘Sukhdev zindabad’, say ‘Asfaqulla Khan zindabad’, say ‘Babasahab Ambedkar zindabad’.”
The last round of protest in EFLU had begun on October 18 following the sexual assault of a female student on campus. Among a long list of demands, the students have demanded the resignation of Vice Chancellor Suresh Kumar and Proctor T Samson. The Proctor is alleged to have called the assault a “small incident” in an effort to clamp down on protests. It was on the complaint by the Proctor, that the the OU police registered an FIR against 11 protesting students and 200 others for ‘successfully inflamed violence’. He claimed that students assembled on campus with ‘a premeditated plan to harm him.’ A second FIR was registered following a complaint by Assistant Professor Suresh Babu who said that he was wrongfully confined by protestors even though he is a person with visual impairment.
The Registrar also said that EFLU students’ demand asking for the first two FIRs to be withdrawn is not feasible and the University told them as much. He further stated that officials from the administration attempted to meet the protesting students thrice but they laid down “unreasonable and impractical conditions.”
The Registrar in his complaint has further alleged that the students’ unwillingness to cooperate points to their intention to create ‘large scale unrest which may disturb law and order in the University.’ He also noted that their demand of wanting the Vice Chancellor and Proctorial board to be removed is ‘a major cause of concern.’ He also accused protesting students and a few individuals of ‘feeding media houses/ newspapers, with false information against the University and the individual professors, which has damaged the reputation of the University.’
“The group of protesting students are obstructing the classwork and resorting to “acts of intimidation” with intent on “disrupting the academic and administrative functioning of the University”. The University officials have been spending sleepless nights every day, as they have to continuously attend to the volatile dynamics and unwieldy situation. On top of it, they are demanding the withdrawal of security staff on the campus, which is the cause of concern,” the complaint read.
The FIR has been registered under Sections 342 (Punishment for wrongful confinement) and 506 (Criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 4 of the Telangana Prevention of Disfigurement of Open Place and Prohibition of Obscene and Objectionable posters and advertisements Act 1997 read with Section 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention) of the IPC.
About 20 students of English and Foreign Language University (EFLU) were detained and manhandled after they began their hunger strike on Monday, against the disregard of the college administration about a sexual assault case and repressive measures being taken to curb dissent on campus.
The students began their hunger strike at around 1 pm on Monday, chanting slogans ‘VC your time’s up’ and asking for justice for the student who was sexually assaulted on campus on October 18. They called for the resignation of the Vice-Chancellor and for the removal of Proctor Samson.
The proctor had recently registered a complaint against 11 students for creating unrest and subsequently an FIR was registered based on the complaint.
The students demanded withdrawal of the FIRs and show cause notices against those students and demanded the reconstitution of the Internal Committee (IC) in compliance with UGC guidelines. The students have also demanded that the college administration to hold student union elections immediately and made it clear that Telangana Assembly elections were not an obstruction.
At around 2 pm, Proctor Samson came out and declared that none of their demands would be heard and asked them to call off the protest. When the students did not budge, the Osmania University police started forcefully detaining the students. Meanwhile, protesting students continued chanting slogans ‘inquilab zindabad’ and ‘EFLU admin shame shame’ as they were taken into police vehicles.
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IIT-BHU: Female student molested, abused and stripped by three bike-borne men inside campus