Four students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) were booked Monday by the police for taking out a march on the campus in support of Palestine amid the ongoing conflict with Israel.
On the night of October 8, hundreds of AMU students embarked on a protest march from Duct Point to the Bab-e-Syed gate within the campus. The participants were seen holding posters and passionately chanting slogans in support of the Palestinian cause and against the perceived oppression by Israel.
However, the peaceful demonstration quickly turned contentious as local law enforcement reacted by filing a First Information Report (FIR). In the FIR, four students – Atif, Khalid, Naved, and Kamran, among others – were accused of raising “objectionable” slogans.
The FIR includes multiple charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), such as Section 153A, which pertains to promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and more. Section 188, criminalizing the deliberate disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant, was also invoked, along with Section 505, which concerns statements creating or promoting enmity.
Mrigank Shekhar Pathak, the Senior Superintendent of Police (city) in Aligarh, provided an official statement on the matter. He said, “We received information that the protest was carried out without our permission and featured objectionable and provocative slogans during a march related to an international conflict. Consequently, we have registered an FIR.”
However, the students maintain that no permission is necessary if a protest is conducted within the college premises, asserting their right to express support for Palestine freely.
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