Protests broke out at University of Hyderabad on Tuesday after the police barged into the campus and allegedly detained at least six students before the screening of a documentary, The News Minute reported. The police claimed the students had not taken the university administration’s permission to screen Raam ke Naam (In the name of God) by Anand Patwardhan.
The documentary, produced in 1992, is about Hindutva group Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s efforts to build a Ram temple in Ayodhya. The students who were detained belong to the All India Students Association and the Students’ Federation of India.
The police acted after the university administration filed a complaint. However, the student organisers of the event claimed that written permission had initially been granted for the screening to be held in the social sciences building. It was, however, rescinded as the space they booked was reportedly not given to student organisations. The students were later asked to screen the film in the first year Sociology lecture hall, according to The New Indian Express.
“Minutes before the screening was about to begin, security personnel along with the Telangana state police walked in and confiscated laptop of one of our members,” The Times of India quoted an unidentified student as saying. “This led to a scuffle between the students and the police following which six of them were taken away by the cops.”
Those detained were later released.
Students alleged that the varsity was infringing on their rights by making it compulsory to get permission before holding any event. “Why is that for every event, we have to take permission from the authorities?” The News Minute quoted Students’ Federation of India General Secretary Abhishek Nandan as saying. “Students irrespective of which organisation they belong to, should be free to speak wherever and whenever they want.”
The police, however, claimed that no student was detained or arrested. “When we reached the spot and seized their [students] laptops, they argued,” The Times of India quoted Inspector R Srinivas as saying. “We did not detain them as when we suggested that they can accompany us to the police station while we check the content of the laptop, they agreed.”
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