BBC docu: Rajasthan varsity suspends 11 students after ABVP ‘pressure’; rights body calls it ‘illegal, unfair’

(File Photo)

  • No screening happened and the question of individual viewing it on phone is a private matter: PUCL
  • ABVP students ‘created a ruckus’, tried to enter hostel rooms of students who allegedly watched documentary
  • Congress and social activists have demanded the withdrawal of the University’s suspension order against the students.

The Central University of Rajasthan in Ajmer has reportedly suspended 11– most of whom Muslims – for watching the BBC documentary that questions role of Narendra Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister, during the 2002 riots.

Controversy over the BBC documentary, India: The Modi Question, erupted after the Indian government blocked sharing links and ordered YouTube and Facebook to take down the videos. The documentary reportedly criticized Modi’s role in the infamous Gujarat riots.

The varsity  suspended the students after the RSS’s student body, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), released a list of 24 students who allegedly watched the documentary and demanded action against them.  The students were suspended from both academics and the hostel for 14 days on January 27, following a proctorial enquiry that was constituted soon after complaint of the ABVP.

ABVP president for the University Vikas Pathak, however, rejected the allegations that the ABVP had given a list of students to the administration for suspension.

“They were asked by some students not to do such things publically as it was a banned documentary, but they didn’t listen. The campus security and police came and they misbehaved with them,” said Pathak.

Most students who faced action are postgraduate students who alleged that the university authorities buckled under pressure from the ABVP, which “created a ruckus” on Thursday evening and forcibly tried to enter the hostel rooms of those who allegedly watched the BBC documentary, according to The Wire.

Meanwhile, the Congress and social activists have demanded the withdrawal of the University’s suspension order against the students.

People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) Rajasthan president, Kavita Srivastav tweeted, “Shameful action by the Central University, Rajasthan for suspending students for allegedly viewing on their Mobiles the BBC documentary: India, The Modi Question. The University knows that the film has not been banned, only access denied. Still it has acted on the ABVP lists.”

“The PUCL demand expulsion order be rescinded immediately and the students be reinstated to the university,” she said.

In a letter addressed to the vice-chancellor, Srivastava said no screening of the documentary happened and the question of individual viewing it on phone is a private matter which comes within right to privacy of the students. “There is no ban on watching the film in India and no order to that effect has been issued by any authority to date,” she added.

Congress spokesperson RC Choudhary was reported by the Hindustan Times as saying: “In a democracy the Constitution gives rights to agree and disagree, and nothing can be just banned. The suspension of students is unfortunate and attack on freedom.”

According to The Wire report, the suspended student said that he had neither disobeyed a teacher nor demonstrated anywhere at any time. “All some of us did was watch the BBC documentary, which has not been banned. The post office is a spot where students gather on a daily basis for usual chit chat. You can’t call it a non-designated site. Moreover, our event wasn’t a demonstration. It was merely a mark of protest where students wanted to watch the documentary peacefully,” the news portal quoted a suspended student as saying.

Campuses are on the boil ever since the government banned screening of the first episode of the two-part documentary was aired last week on BBC-2 in the UK.

-INDIA NEWS STREAM

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