Mumbai: Days after 10 students of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) were booked by the Mumbai Police after they commemorated the death anniversary of Delhi University professor G.N. Saibaba and allegedly raised slogans in support of jailed student leaders Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid, the institute and students are at odds over what happened.
The students deny any sloganeering for the release of Imam and Khalid, as alleged by the TISS administration, and term the matter as having been “blown out of proportion”. The former Jawaharlal Nehru University students’ union leaders are behind bars in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.
The TISS administration also alleges that the group did not take permission to organise the programme for Saibaba, a human rights activist who spent almost 10 years in jail after being arrested in 2014 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act on charges of Maoist links. He was acquitted twice by the Bombay High Court.
The TISS students were booked Monday under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and Maharashtra Police Act, 1951, pertaining to unlawful assembly, intent to cause riot, promote enmity, among others. Five of the students approached the Bombay High Court for anticipatory bail, but their petition was denied Thursday.
Students ThePrint spoke to said there was no divisive agenda at play.
“The issue has been blown out of proportion. A sober, humble gathering in remembrance of a professor who was the subject of an unfair trial, as noted by the Bombay High Court, and the events that unfolded is a reflection of the shrinking democratic space in elite higher educational institutions. There was no form of sloganeering, let alone divisiveness,” a student from TISS who refused to be named said.
“The event happened in the presence of college guards, and had the guards asked us to stop, we would have cut short the 8-minute gathering even quicker. The guards allowed it to happen, and now they are trying to tamper with all that happened. Students are unnecessarily being targeted,” the student added.
A second student said that “a lot of us haven’t had food or sleep in 48-plus hours”.
“This has left an immense toll on our physical, mental and emotional health. Our classes are being missed and careers are at stake. The college administration is compromising on the future of students to send a message,” the student said.
ThePrint reached out to the TISS vice-chancellor’s office via email for a response on the matter. This report will be updated if a response is received.
Also Read: IISc, TIFR, TISS, TMC, NCPA – J.N. Tata’s ‘famed five’ are India’s crown jewels
What happened?
The FIR against the students is based on a complaint filed by Vaishali Banudas Kolhe, Associate Dean of TISS, that on the evening of 12 October, based on the on-duty registrar’s information, between 7.30 pm and 8.30 pm, 10-12 students gathered at the institute’s premises under a tree in front of Hostel 4. ThePrint has accessed the FIR.
According to the TISS administration, the students hadn’t taken permission to organise the programme of homage to Saibaba. The registrar found a picture of Saibaba on the tree with ‘Rest in Power, Prof G.N. Saibaba (1967-forever)’ written on it, and partially burnt candles on the spot. The registrar complained that upon inquiring with other students, it was found that the accused students had raised slogans in support of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.
The students involved, however, denied the allegations as “false and baseless” in their anticipatory bail plea, seen by ThePrint.
According to the students, they and many others are part of a reading group called Savitribai Study Circle, established by the women’s cell of TISS years ago. This circle operates via Whatsapp groups and every week, students discuss what the reading material should be the following week that includes social and political themes.
On 7 October, it was decided that the reading material for the week would be a piece by Saibaba called ‘Peace is Not Possible Without Justice’. The students also decided to hold a small meeting in memory of the professor, who suffered 90% disability, on his death anniversary, as a peaceful exercise of empathy, solidarity and advocacy for disability rights, the plea states.
On 12 October, a few members of the reading circle, including the applicants, decided to go to a tea stall inside the campus. There, they spoke about Saibaba and some of them decided to take a printout of his picture and lit candles to commemorate him. Two poems were read out to highlight the struggles undergone by him during 10 years of incarceration with 90% disability.
Once this was done, the students state, they dispersed and that’s when they realised that security guards had taken pictures of the whole meeting. There was then a heated argument between some of the accused students and other students who were not part of the commemoration meeting, according to the plea.
During this period, the pictures taken by the security guards were uploaded on social media by various handles and the Mumbai Police were tagged, they state.
The students also said in their anticipatory bail application that last year too, a similar event had been held at TISS to commemorate the contributions of Saibaba.
“We did not feel the need to seek permission to organise this meeting as it was not a large-scale event. The meeting was spontaneous. Such spontaneous events without permission have taken place in the past in the campus,” their petition states.
The students also denied raising slogans for Khalid and Imam and said a complaint about the same was made on the basis of statements of other unnamed students.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)