India – bsCEM: Statement Condemning the Repressive Arrest of Activists Niranjan, Arbaaz Khan and Munna Qureshi
We hereby share a statement published by Bhagat Singh Student Union Platform (bsCEM) on their Instagram on October 29.
On 26th October 2026, three activists were arrested from Batla House, Delhi. Comrade Niranjan who used to be a student of Jamia, along with Arbaaz Khan and Munna Qureshi was arrested. The arrests took place amid growing tensions by student demonstrations demanding the restoration of the Jamia Students’ Union. Time and time again the state has tried to repress the voices of the students from Jamia Millia Islamia.
As we know, from the last two weeks the students of Jamia have tirelessly protested and agitated with a hunger strike for reinstating campus democracy and democratic student elections. They have refused to bow down to the Brahminical Hindutva Fascist state. This time, the fascist state colluding with the sanghi administration has responded by cowardly arresting the activists. These activists were picked up by the Delhi Police and booked under preventive provisions, specifically Section 126 of the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) and Section 170 of the BNSS (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita). They were subsequently denied immediate relief and sent to Tihar Jail under a 3-day judicial custody order. The state has defended this arrest under the bogus label of “preventive proceeding.” But preventing whom and for what?
bsCEM strongly condemns this attempt to suppress the voices of dissent from University spaces. This is not an isolated incident but a careful measure by the Brahminical Hindutva Fascist State to repress the voices of dissent and stifle the protest demanding restoration of democracy on campuses. This arrest is part of a scheme of broader cheap intimidation tactics used by the state to threaten students raising their voices against the saffronisation of universities, protesting against fee hikes, demanding better infrastructure and demanding a scientific curriculum. The state is scared as it is well aware of the success brought on by collective unionizing of students. This is also not the first time the state has used Delhi police to unleash violence on students either, This brutality by Delhi police on students demanding democracy in University spaces exposes the facade of “democracy” that the Brahminical hindutva fascist state tries to maintain in front of the masses while simultaneously brutally beating them. Under the Brahminical Hindutva Fascist State, preventive proceedings have been transformed into a strategy of political suppression of any form of dissent. It is one of the many tools used for threatening and neutralizing the student movement. This is a covert tactic designed to breed fear.
The state adopts these cheap intimidation tactics like manhandling, sexually assaulting students and punitive measures as a means to suppress dissent all while maintaining the facade of peace and democracy. It’s important to expose this nature for what it is and reveal who it’s complicit to.
bsCEM demands the immediate release of Comrade Niranjan along with other arrested students. We demand the restoration of the student union in Jamia Millia Islamia . We demand to put an end to violence unleashed on common students to suppress dissent and use of bogus labels to keep them in jail. We demand demilitarization of the university spaces and halt saffronisation of universities, and stop them from being a breeding ground for unscientific teaching and thinking. bsCEM extends their solidarity to all progressive and justice loving comrades and students who are struggling against the Fascist state for democratic university spaces. We urge all revolutionary, progressive, and democratic individuals and organisations to rise in solidarity, condemn this fascist attack, and unite in the struggle against Brahmanical Hindutva fascism.
SMASH BRAHMANICAL HINDUTVA FASCISM!
