Seventeen students who have sat on hunger strike in protest against the administration of the English and Foreign Language University’s (EFLU) in Hyderabad have been booked by the police following a complaint by EFLU Registrar Narasimha Rao Kedari. This is the third FIR against students who have been protesting for nearly a month against administrative negligence and the sexual assault of a female student on campus.
“The University is worried that their acts may lead to inciting violence on the campus,” read the complaint. In his complaint, the professor also refers to ‘written and pictorial slogans and warnings’ which he alleges are a witness to their intentions of threatening the University and the government.
The Registrar has also said that the students were using objectionable slogans like, ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ (Long live revolution) and ‘Tum Zameen pe Zulm likho, wahi pe Inquilab Likha Jayega (You write atrocitiy on the ground, we will mark the same with revolution). He also said the slogans drawn by the protestors at the main entrance of the University is ‘a cause of our concern.’
Bringing up slogans used by the protesting students, the Registrar invoked the Delhi High Court’s exception to the use of the word ‘Inquilab Zindabad.’ He alleges that the protest has 'deeper roots' and 'dubs it a frightening factor.'
It is worth noting that the Delhi High Court’s viewing of the term ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ as ‘objectionable’ took place while hearing student activist Umar Khalid’s bail hearing for his alleged involvement in the Delhi riots. Khalid has been in jail since September 2020 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). The court had then said, “Revolution by itself isn't always bloodless, which is why it is contradistinctly used with the prefix – a ‘bloodless’ revolution. So, when we use the expression “revolution‟, it is not necessarily bloodless.” This reading of the court has however been questioned by academics.
The latest protest in EFLU commenced on October 18 following the sexual assault of a female student on campus. Among their list of demands, the students had asked for the resignation of Vice Chancellor Suresh Kumar and Proctor T Samson. The Proctor is alleged to have called the assault a “small incident” in an effort to clamp down on protests. Following a complaint by the Proctor, the OU police registered an FIR against 11 protesting students and 200 others for ‘successfully inflamed violence’. He claimed that students assembled on campus with ‘a premeditated plan to harm him.’ A second FIR was registered following a complaint by Assistant Professor Suresh Babu who said that he was wrongfully confined by protestors even though he is a person with visual impairment.
The Registrar stated that EFLU students’ demand asking for the first two FIRs to be withdrawn is not feasible and the University told them as much. He further stated that officials from the administration attempted to meet the protesting students thrice but they laid down “unreasonable and impractical conditions.”
The Registrar in his complaint alleged that the students’ unwillingness to cooperate points to their intention to create ‘large scale unrest which may disturb law and order in the University.’ He also noted that their demand of wanting the Vice Chancellor and Proctorial board to be removed is ‘a major cause of concern.’ He also accused protesting students and a few individuals of ‘feeding media houses/ newspapers, with false information against the University and the individual professors, which has damaged the reputation of the University.’
“The group of protesting students are obstructing the classwork and resorting to "acts of intimidation" with intent on "disrupting the academic and administrative functioning of the University". The University officials have been spending sleepless nights every day, as they have to continuously attend to the volatile dynamics and unwieldy situation. On top of it, they are demanding the withdrawal of security staff on the campus, which is the cause of concern,” the complaint read.
The FIR has been registered under Sections 342 (Punishment for wrongful confinement) and 506 (Criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 4 of the Telangana Prevention of Disfigurement of Open Place and Prohibition of Obscene and Objectionable posters and advertisements Act 1997 read with Section 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention) of the IPC.