AMU Students Accused Of Chanting ‘Bharat Murdabad’ Following Protests Against Owaisi Visit; Slapped With Sedition Case

The Uttar Pradesh police on Wednesday (13 February) booked 14 students of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on charges of sedition and other Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for purportedly raising of anti-national slogans on campus, reports Indian Express.

You can also read this in Hindi- एएमयू में ओवैसी के आने के बाद ‘भारत मुर्दाबाद’ के नारे, राज-द्रोह का मामला दर्ज

The First Information Report (FIR) reportedly follows a campus protest against a planned visit of All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday (12 February). Some students of AMU were allegedly involved in an altercation with the cameraman and reporters of Republic TV.

According to the report, the police said the AMU students also assaulted workers of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) outside the campus in the ensuing violence. No complaint has been filed against the BJYM leaders, informed police.

AMU students on Wednesday (13 February) protested inside the campus demanding an FIR against BJYM leaders and those in the varsity who supported them.

“While driving past the university, I saw two student groups arguing over some issue. As I stopped my vehicle, some students forcibly dragged me out of my vehicle. When I objected, they thrashed us and also opened fire. No one got injured. The assailants raised slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ and ‘Bharat Murdabad’. We somehow escaped and reached the police station,” BJYM’s Aligarh district president Mukesh Lodhi was quoted in the report as saying.

As per the report, the police, on Mukesh’s complaint, lodged an FIR against 14 students including AMU Student Union’s (AMUSU) vice-president Humza Sufyan, former AMUSU president Maskoor Ahmad Usmani and former honorary secretary Mohammad Fahad and others, under various sections of IPC including 124-A (sedition), 153-A, 307, 147 and 153-B.