India: Revolutionary Students’ Front denounces repression in the Jawaharlal Nehru University

We hereby share a statement published by the Revolutionary Students’ Front (RSF).

The Delhi Police detained four students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus this morning for writing on the campus walls condemning the recent state sponsored genocide of indigenous people at Bijapur, in Chattisgarh. All of them are members of Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BSCEM). The cops beat them up before dragging them away in six to seven vehicles. The comrades’ fault was that they were democratically writing on the wall to protest the ongoing exploitation of Jal Jungle Jameen by corporate interests in Bastar, Chhattisgarh.

It has been twelve hours since they were last spotted. They had their cell phones confiscated. The BSCEM comrades were falsely notified by the police that they had been released, but in reality the detained comrades were brought to the police station at Vasant Kunj. And they’ve not been released yet. The police unlawfully assaulted them. Comrade Gaurang was bleeding from his ear while being tortured by the police. After the arrest, they are being interrogated. The state’s terrorist organisation NIA has also been involved.

We can observe how state terrorism is bringing down the activists of all democratic, progressive, and revolutionary movements nationwide. When someone speaks out against domestic and foreign corporate looting for the benefit of the country’s people, the state becomes enraged. The state’s hired goons are killing demonstrators by holding them in spurious encounters and cases. Mass killings are taking place under the name of Operation Samadhan, Prahar, and Kagar. On February 1, eight tribals were killed in Chhattisgarh’s Tolimata district after being labelled as “Maoists.” And when you protest against something like this, a terrorist organisation like the NIA gets involved.

We, the Revolutionary Students’ Front demand immediate release of all detained BSCEM comrades. At the same time, we strongly condemn the fascist state’s attacks on protestors throughout the country. We urge democratic progressive individuals and organisations to unite against the fascist regime and its hired thugs.