India: CASR – Stop Witch Hunting and Intimidation of Students!
We hereby share a statement by Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) that we have received.
27 December
CAMPAIGN AGAINST STATE REPRESSION STRONGLY CONDEMNS THE ARRESTING AS WELL AS PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HARASSMENT OF STUDENT ACTIVISTS GATHERED TO DISCUSS MANUSMRITI IN BHU CAMPUS
Yesterday, on 26 December 2024, 13 members of Banaras Hindu University based Bhagat Singh Students Morcha (BSM) were arrested and sent to judicial custody for 14 days after registering an FIR under non-bailable sections. On 25 December, a discussion was organized on Manusmriti Day in the Arts Faculty, BHU. This historical day is important in the sense that Babasaheb Ambedkar burnt the Manusmriti on this day in 1927. The comrades of Bhagat Singh Students Morcha (BSM) were gathered to discuss this topic. During the discussion, the guards of the BHU Proctorial Board came and started misbehaving with the students, dragged them and detained them in the Proctorial Board Office around 7:30 pm. During this assault, the students were injured, their clothes were torn and their glasses have also been broken. All the students who gathered at the Proctorial Board to help the detained comrades were themselves detained after being man-handled and beaten. After this, the students were threatened in various ways by both the BHU guards and the Varanasi police [Editor’s note: Varanasi is a city in Uttar Pradesh], including threats of ruining their future. Then the police forcefully took away all the students, including 3 girls, by beating them up and forcibly loading them into a police van. All the 13 students were kept locked up at Lanka police station overnight and were not even allowed to meet their lawyer. When the students insisted on meeting their lawyer, Lanka police station SHO [Editor’s note: Station House Officer, officer in charge of the police station] Shivakant Mishra rejected the legal process and said, “This is my police station and things will be done as per my wishes, you can do your advocate work in the court.” Phones of all the activists were seized at the police station and they were not even allowed to inform their homes. This is a clear violation of the guidelines of the Supreme Court and the Human Rights Commission. Further, today, on the 26th, they were produced in remand court and sent to jail. Very serious sections have been added in the FIR.
– Section 132 of the Indian Penal Code (BNS) – Assault on a Government servant or public servant. Non-bailable;
– Section 121 (2) Causing grievous hurt to a Government servant, imprisonment of one to ten years and fine.
– Section 196 (1) (b) Disturbing peace and causing harm to harmony between communities.
– Section 299 BNS – Insulting religion or things related to it, imprisonment of up to three years, fine;
– Section 110 BNS– Attempt to commit culpable homicide,
– Section 191 (1) BNS- Rioting, punishment of up to 5 years,
– Section 115 (2) BNS- Intentional hurt
This action has been taken at the behest of Brahminical Hindutva Fascist forces. The repressive attitude of the BHU administration and the police administration clearly shows that the BJP-RSS is openly behind this. The Indian state which boasts of being democratic is in such a condition that discussing Manusmriti can make you end up in jail. Manusmriti is the text which gives women, Shudras and Dalits a status worse than that of an animal, which is against the democratic aspirations of the people of the country. We assert that the illusion of Brahmanical Hindutva forces, to break people’s movement for a democratic society by unleashing state repression, will be shattered to pieces by the broader unity of the oppressed and exploited people. In fact, their illusion is already being broken as 13 student activists raised slogans like Manusmriti Murdabad and Inquilab Zindabad [Editor’s note: Long Live the Revolution] with undeterred spirit, while going to jail.
We demand that all the activists be released immediately and the bogus FIR be quashed. An FIR should be immediately registered against the police and BHU guards for assaulting the students and manhandling female students. We also urge all democratic and progressive forces to join hands to oppose Brahmanical Hindutva Fascist State repression on democratic assertion on students and other struggling sections.
CAMPAIGN AGAINST STATE REPRESSION
Organizing Team
(AIRSO,AISA, AISF, APCR,ASA,BAPSA BBAU,BASF, BSM, Bhim Army, bsCEM, CEM,COLLECTIVE,CRPP, CSM CTF, DISSC, DSU, DTF, Forum Against Repression Telangana, Fraternity ,IAPL, Innocence Network, Karnataka Janashakti, LAA,Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan, Mazdoor Patrika, , NAPM, NAZARIYA , Nishant Natya Manch, Nowruz, NTUI, People’s Watch, Rihai Manch, Samajwadi Janparishad,Smajwadi lok manch, Bahujan Samjavadi Mnach, SFI, United Peace Alliance, WSS,Y4S)
