The vandalism and violence by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) against a proposed discussion on February 24, 2026, by “Spark”, an informal student reading group of Azim Premji University (APU), Bangalore, are symptomatic of the increasing repression in campuses across the country, where dissent is criminalised and free debate and discussion is shut down. The proposed discussion was on the anniversary of the mass rapes in Kunan Poshpora in 1991.

On February 24, around 25 members of the ABVP, the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vandalised the “Kabira” space, a designated location for cultural activities in the Sarjapur campus of the university and the venue of a discussion on Kunan Poshpora by the Spark Reading Group. They tore down posters and assaulted a student and a member of the university’s security staff.

While police arrested 25 members of the ABVP on charges of assault, vandalism and trespass., they were granted bail the next day.

However, police also registered an FIR, based on a complaint by the APU Registrar Rishikesh BS, against office-bearers and members of the Spark Reading Circle. The complaint against the group’s Instagram handle on the event was registered under Sec 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) 2023, on charges of deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, a cognisable and non-bailable charge with a penalty of up to three years imprisonment.

The FIR also cites charges under Sec 66 (e) (violation of privacy by intentionally capturing, publishing, or transmitting images of a person’s private areas without their consent) and 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act,2000.

The APU Registrar’s complaint states that no permission was sought or granted for the event and that the group had no official connection with the university. The complaint further blames the reading group for seeking to host the event and said that, by “issuing such invitations, hostility arose between two groups, resulting in activists forcefully entering our campus and creating a disturbance.”

In a statement, the Student Council of Azim Premji University expressed concern over the FIR filed by the university against members of the ‘Spark Reading Circle’, stating that the matter should have been addressed through internal disciplinary mechanisms rather than criminal proceedings.

Indeed, the excessively punitive reaction of the APU administration towards the student reading group for merely planning to hold a discussion on the Kunan Poshpora incident is highly disturbing. A purely administrative and logistical issue of permissions for an event on campus became the basis of a complaint to the police to seek criminal action against a reading group and its members. The complaint against the group’s account on a social media platform amounts to an open invitation to police the academic lives of students. In the guise of a criminal investigation, it allows for surveillance of electronic devices of students and seeks to police their space and time outside the classroom.

Why don’t they want people to remember Kunan Poshpora?

 The ABVP’s protest against the Spark Reading Group’s discussion over Kunan-Poshpora seeks to erase and invisibilise the crucial process of recollection and analysis of painful and sensitive incidents, thereby silencing a historical record.

February 24, 2026, marked the 35th anniversary of the mass rape and torture of women of the villages of Kunan and Poshpora in Jammu and Kashmir by the Indian Army. The allegations of rape and torture were denied by the army and the Indian government.

However, the testimonies of women of the two villages and the extensive records and interviews by researchers Essar Batool, Ifrah Butt, Munaza Rashid, Natasha Rather and Samreena Mushtaq, who documented the incident and its aftermath in their book “Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora?” continue to challenge official narratives even as they persist in the struggle to seek justice and accountability. The book was among the 25 academic books banned in Kashmir last year.

Systematic censorship of academia

The violence by the right wing ABVP, the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ominously repressive measures taken by the APU administration result in the censorship and curbs on free discussion and debate on important issues. They are only the latest in the growing list of instances of censorship in academia.

Right-wing students are emboldened and weaponised by the ruling political dispensation. Regrettably, university administrations, including vice chancellors who are unabashed champions of right-wing ideologies, speedily crack down on students who dare to ask questions.

Last year, Free Speech Collective’s annual report “Free Speech in India 2025: Behold the Hidden Hand” documented at least 16 noteworthy instances of censorship in academia, including the criminalisation of student protests, the Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh’s openly political exhortations to faculty and staff to push the ruling BJP’s agendas and the arrest of Prof Ali Khan Mahmudabad of Ashoka University over posts on Operation Sindoor even as the denial of permission for academic seminars on “sensitive subjects” became routine.

Now, barely two months into 2026, there are already more than six instances of censorship in academia in India.

At least 14 students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) were arrested for protesting the casteist remarks of the university’s Vice Chancellor Shantisree Dhulipudi Pandit. Granted bail by a Delhi court on February 27, the students continued to remain in jail till late evening on Sunday (March 1) as police took their time to complete the verifications of their permanent addresses. It took the court to direct their immediate release stating that procedural formalities could not be the excuse for their continued detention after bail had already been granted.

Earlier, on February 17, 2026, the Proctor Office of Delhi University (DU) issued an order stating that “public meetings, processions, demonstrations, and protests of any kind are strictly prohibited within the university campus for a period of one month.”

On January 29, 2026, Sarover Zaidi, an associate professor at OP Jindal Global University in Sonepat, was suspended for one semester (February 1 to July 31) for allegedly comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Adolf Hitler. BJP MP from Kurukshetra Naveen Jindal is the founding chancellor of the university.

The action arose after a hearing in the Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) on a complaint by Vishav Bajaj, father of Vikhyaat Bajaj, a first-year undergraduate student of the Jindal School of Design & Architecture, that on November 7, 2025, during a lecture on the course “Politics of Representation” taught by Zaidi, repeated remarks were made in class that were “politically derogatory, inflammatory and deeply disturbing”.

Bajaj alleged that PM Modi was compared to Adolf Hitler, national security operations such as Operation Sindoor were described as “gimmicks” and “branding exercises,” civilian deaths were trivialised and official accounts of terrorism were questioned. Audio recordings made by Vikhyaat were also submitted to the HHRC.

The student had also complained against another assistant professor, Ekta Chauhan, alleging their statements against the RSS. But Chauhan refuted the allegations and described herself as a “devout and practising” Hindu. Her family was associated with RSS-linked social service traditions since 1972, she said in a written statement.

The trend of disinvitation of distinguished persons from campus events continued unabated. In Banaras Hindu University, a lecture by scholar Kedar Mishra, scheduled for January 20, 2026, was cancelled allegedly under government pressure In Mumbai, actor Naseeruddin Shah was disinvited from an academic literary event at Mumbai University on January 31, 2026.

In Mumbai, an SRFTI (Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute) student film “Da’Lit Kids” was pulled out of the Animela Film Festival at Whistling Woods after it was reportedly denied permission for screening by the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting. In protest, film-makers of all the SRFTI films scheduled for screening at the festival pulled out but the festival went ahead.

The Animela Festival is an international Animation, VFX, Gaming, Comics & XR Festival run by a non-profit organisation – the Aniverse and Visual Arts Foundation (AVAF). While there is no clarity why government permission was sought for the films being screened, the festival website lists multiple sponsors, including the Maharashtra government, embassies of France and Australia and corporate support from sponsors like Adani.

All these instances of censorship further circumscribe the space for the free exchange of information and diverse viewpoints. APU prides itself on being “a space for social change” and a space for higher education that “can create critical and reflective practitioners with an understanding of the social impact of education, the law and development”. Instead of criminalising students, APU needs to ensure that its campuses remain safe spaces that nurture the spirit of enquiry. For a truly transformative educational institution, a climate of free discussion needs to prevail over censorship by vandals and vigilantes.

Courtesy: Free Speech Collective

The post The Throttling of Free Discussion in Academia: Strong-arm Tactics by ABVP and Cave in by Azim Premji University appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Free Speech Collective

With Bihar in the midst of Vidhan Sabha elections, 2025, this media tracker exposes the illusion of free speech and independent journalism in the state. The last five years have been marked with assaults on journalists, with six killings and eleven instances of attacks. The general climate for free speech has also been affected by detention and arrest of journalists and threats to editors of prominent dailies, coupled with defamation and censorship of social media posts.

(Visit the Free Speech Tracker or scroll to the end for more details.)

By 2015, when Nitish Kumar was re-elected as Chief Minister, several independent journalists began using social media platforms to publish stories, and alongside began facing reprisal. By 2020, when the Nitish Kumar government was re-elected as part of the JDU-led NDA along with the Bharatiya Janata Party, repression on the media continued unabated, this time targeting social media.

Bihar struggles with low socio-economic indicators. It consistently throws up high unemployment rates and there is an abject lack of facilities for health and education. In the NITI Aayog 2019-20 State Health Index, Bihar was ranked 18th out of 19 large states. In March 2025, Niti Aayog’s Macro and Fiscal Landscape of the State of Bihar said that the sex ratio is lower than the national average. Low literacy levels and low per capita income and high unemployment, forces lakhs of youth to migrate every year. With little or no industries, agriculture is a mainstay and government employment is a desperate struggle for thousands of youth. In NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index of 2023-24, Bihar was adjudged the worst performer in terms of social, economic and environmental parameters.

The large-scale deletion of voters in Bihar in the run up to the Assembly election, ostensibly to revise the electoral rolls, is bound to have an impact on the polls. But the slow erasure of an independent media that can question and hold its government accountable can only further weaken the foundations of a democracy.

Details of Free Speech Violations in Bihar, November ’20-’25:

Read FSC’s special features:

Wanted: A Responsible Media in Bihar, by Kiran Shaheen.

Criminalisation of politics in Bihar, by C P Jha.

Related:

From Welfare to Expulsion: Bihar’s MCC period rhetoric turns citizenship into a campaign weapon

Bihar Elections Build-up: ‘Won’t allow namaz’, ‘namak haram’, BJP MPs’ communal hate-filled remarks draw fire

Caste and Indifference: Two separate incidents of rape against minor Dalit girls in UP and Bihar receive no media coverage, protest or outrage

The post Bihar & the Delusion of Independent Journalism: A Free Speech Record of Five Years appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Today marks 3 years of Gulfisha’s painful incarceration under UAPA for daring to raise her voice against the unjust CAA-NRC-NPR. She has been penning beautiful heart wrenching poetry from her prison cell.
Listen to them. Let it sink in. #releasegulfisha pic.twitter.com/Xuk2Nd8ftk

— Natasha Narwal (@natasha_narwal) April 9, 2023

Only last week, a Delhi court had ordered an FIR against Mishra for his role in the riots, based on a complaint filed by Mohammed Ilyas, a property dealer who unsuccessfully tried to get Delhi police to take action against Mishra.

Delhi police took no action against the BJP leader. Instead police filed multiple cases against a range of persons, including student activists, charging them under stringent clauses of the draconian Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967. Student leader Umar Khalid is still in jail, as is Sharjeel Imam and Meeran Haider, along with other activists of the movement against the CAA.

Gulfisha was arrested from prison in FIR 50/20 (Crime Branch) on July 28,2020, absurdly charged, along with ten young Muslim boys (many of whom were injured and maimed in the riots) and student activists Natasha Narwal and Devangana Kalita, with the murder of a 19yr old Muslim boy who died on 25th Feb’20 during the riots. She was granted bail in all the other cases besides FIR 59/20 in 2020 itself.

On 15th June 2021, co-accused Devangana Kalita, Natasha Narwal & Asif Iqbal Tanha were granted bail in FIR 59/20 by the Delhi High Court in a historic order which observed that “We are constrained to say, that it appears, that in its anxiety to suppress dissent and in the morbid fear that matters may get out of hand, the State has blurred the line between the constitutionally guaranteed ‘right to protest’ and ‘terrorist activity’.” Subsequently, their bail was challenged by Delhi Police in the Supreme Court. On 2nd May 2023, the Supreme Court upheld Devangana, Natasha and Asif’s bail. It however, directed that the above bail order cannot be “treated as precedent”.

Nonetheless, the SC order granted the possibility of bail on the basis of parity to co-accused in the same case by stating that “If the co-accused is entitled to a plea on parity, that is for him to make and the Court to consider.”

In the light of the Supreme Court order, Gulfisha stood a very strong chance of bail on grounds of parity as her role as alleged by Delhi Police is exactly similar to Devangana and Natasha’s roles. However, as a result of inordinate judicial delays and her bail pending in Delhi High Court for more than two years, Gulfisha continues to languish in prison without any order being pronounced on her bail plea.

Who Is Gulfisha Fatima?

Gulfisha is a resident of Seelampur area of North East Delhi. Her father runs a small grocery store near their home. She is a first generation learner who completed her BA and MA in Urdu literature from Kirori Mal College in Delhi University. She then went on to do an MBA from Institute of Management Education, Ghaziabad. She also worked as a radio jockey at All India Radio (Urdu).

A part of the peaceful and vibrant protests for equal citizenship against CAA-NPR-NRC movement, Gulfisha was amongst the scores of young local Muslim women leaders who emerged from the energy and strength of the movement.

With no prior experiences of engaging or organising protests, Gulfishasoon became a powerful voice of collective assertion and democratic resistance. In the sit-in protest site in Seelampur, she used to regularly hold adult literacy classes for the women who would come to participate in the protest.

Tareekh pe Tareekh: the never-ending hearings for bail

Gulfisha continues to be incarcerated in Tihar Jail for five years now. Her quest for bail in FIR 59/20 has been marked with never-ending adjournments and judicial delays in what has become a complete travesty of justice. Her bail has been listed for hearing 65 times in the Delhi High Court since May 2022 and yet a verdict on her bail plea remains elusive.

In FIR 59/20, Gulfisha applied for bail in the trial court in the second half of 2021.

After a long wait, of several months, she finally received a verdict on 16th March 2022, where the trial court rejected her bail.

Gulfisha applied for bail in Delhi High Court on 1st May 2022. Until date, there has been no verdict on Gulfisha’s bail petition.

After filing for bail in May 2022, Gulfisha’s matter finally came up for hearing in front of special bench of HMJ Siddharth Mridul & HMJ Rajnish Bhatnagar in January 2023 and order was reserved on 13th Feb 2023.

On 2nd May 2023, the Supreme Court upheld the bail granted to three co-accused Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita & Asif Iqbal Tanha by Delhi High Court in the order dated 15th June 2021 and dismissed the SLP filed by Delhi Police. The Supreme Court also directed that the above bail order cannot be “treated as precedent”. It however observed that “If the co-accused is entitled to a plea on parity, that is for him to make and the Court to consider”

On 18th May 2023, Gulfisha filed an application for the above order to be taken on record in her bail plea, seeking parity with Devangana Kalita and Natasha Narwal. Similar applications were also filed by other co-accused.

For the next four and half months, no hearing took place. Either the bench did not assemble on the date of listing or the matter was adjourned.

On 19th Oct 2023, HMJ Siddharth Mridul was transferred as Chief Justice of Manipur High Court. As a result, Gulfisha’s bail plea was listed for rehearing in front of a new bench, along with the bail applications of multiple other co-accused.

On 1st Nov 2023, Gulfisha’s bail plea along with that of other co-accused was listed in front of the special bench of HMJ Surest Kait and HMJ Manoj Jain.

Finally after 4 months, Gulfisha’s bail was argued on 5th March’24 in front of the aforementioned bench. Arguments from both sides concluded on the same day and the bench indicated that judgement was reserved. However, when the order was uploaded, it was learned that the matter had been kept pending on account of the connected bail pleas of the other co-accused.

On 11th July’24, the Supreme Court collegium recommended the appointment of HMJ Suresh Kait as the Chief Justice of the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir. In light of the imminent transfer, the current bench released Gulfisha’s bail appeal to be listed with connected appeals to a new bench on 29th Aug’24. This is the THIRD time that Gulfisha’s bail would have been argued in the Delhi High Court.

On November 11, 2024, the Supreme Court, comprising a bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma, refused to entertain a writ petition filed by Gulfisha Fatima seeking bail in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967 over alleged larger conspiracy behind the 2020 Delhi riots.The Court however requested the Delhi High Court to hear the bail application on the date fixed, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Resistance, Poetry in Prison

Even as she endures a harsh incarceration, Gulfisha retains her indomitable spirit of struggle and her joyous laughter in the face of extreme hardships. Inside prison, she is an important companion for her co-inmates, who come to her to share their troubles, to learn to read and write, to get their applications written, to have their charge-sheets and legal documents explained – the list is endless. Gulfisha used to work in the jail creche teaching the little children who are imprisoned inside with their mothers. Currently, she works with the Pado Padhao programme in prison where she teaches co-inmates basic literacy skills.

Gulfisha has also begun to write very powerful and heart-wrenching poetry to capture the experiences of her incarceration alongwith making beautiful paintings and writing letters to her friends.
———————-

Some links to reports and Gulfisha’s prison poetry, art and letters:

‘These Walls Around Me’: Gulfisha Fatima’s Prison Poetry https://thewire.in/rights/these-walls-around-me-gulfisha-fatimas-prison-poetry

‘Days Become Like A Ladder’: Gulfisha Fatima’s Letters from Prison https://thewire.in/rights/days-become-like-a-ladder-gulfisha-fatimas-letters-from-prison

Free Gulfisha (with footage of Gul’s speeches at the protest site) :

Gulfisha Fatima is an example of courage and bravery. Break you silence. Speak up for her. #freegul #freeallpoliticalprisoners pic.twitter.com/RAupoj6zNy

— Safoora Zargar (@SafooraZargar) October 8, 2021

The post Gulfisha Fatima: A saga of arrest and re-arrest appeared first on SabrangIndia.