14 AMU Students Booked For Sedition After Altercation With News Channel Crew

Student leaders decry “saffron terrorism” on campus and say the TV crew were the ones who stoked the fracas to make TRPs soar

ALIGARH FEB 13: Fourteen students of Aligarh Muslim University were booked for sedition on Tuesday evening following an altercation with Republic TV crew. Meanwhile an FIR has been lodged against the Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha district leader Mukesh Lodhi and a Republic TV correspondent by a final year AMU student Sharjeel Usmani accusing both of provoking clashes and disturbing peace on campus.

“I have filed a complaint against the BJP leader and TV crew for creating tension on campus. The situation went out of hand after the TV crew came on campus and we asked them whether they had the permission to shoot, the reporter told me – we don’t get intimidated by terrorists,” he said.

“On Lodhi’s version that “Hindu students were beaten by Muslim students,” he said adding, “This is a cooked up story, AMU has never seen Hindu-Muslim clashes. This is all in preparation for the Lok Sabha.

AMU student cabinet member Nishanth Bharadwaj slamming the allegations of a Hindu-Muslim conflict said, “If there is a communal feeling in AMU then how can a non-Muslim be a part of the cabinet of the students union. The campus doesn’t have a divisive culture. It is being done ahead of the polls. We are being provoked on religious grounds.”

Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union in its statement rejected the FIR lodged by “saffron terrorists” in the local police station against the students of the university. They have dismissed the charges of sedition and others as frivolous and based on falsehood and fraud. “The FIR symbolises extreme repression by the state,” the statement added.

“AMUSU reiterates that the University was running peacefully and it was the people associated with BJP and its allied media house Republic TV who disrupted the campus harmony. The facts must be placed before the nation that it was a normal day at the university and regular campus activities were being conducted.

In his complaint, BJP leader Mukesh Lodhi alleged that he was attacked by AMU students who raised slogans of “Pakistan Zindabad and Bharat Murdabad”.

“There was row among Hindu-Muslim students of AMU. My car was attacked by these students. BJP government has come to power which is why the Hindus feel empowered to speak before that our voice was suppressed,” he told . Charges were also slapped on former AMU Students’ union leader Nadeem Ansari.

“The sedition charges have been imposed on a private citizens complaint, we have seen the content and framed accordingly, if the allegations are proved otherwise the charges will be dropped. The Aligarh police has not filed the sedition against them.” Aligarh SSP Akash Kulhary has said before the media.