BBC Documentary Row: Central University Of Rajasthan Suspends 10 Students Over Alleged Screening

The Kishangarh-based University suspended 10 students, all boys, for 14 days from both the classroom and hostel. The students told Outlook that all the suspended students are hostellers, coming from different corners of the country. The suspended students also alleged that some Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members, a right-wing all-India student organization created a ruckus at the film screening. 

바카라�Shortly after we finished watching the documentary, ABVP students raised slogans of 바카라�Jai Shri Ram바카라� outside our hostel and eventually barged in with saffron flags. The university guards and police also arrived on the spot shortly and dispersed the group. While they sloganeered, the security personnel made no attempts to stop them바카라�, claimed another student, suspended by the university authorities.  

In the purported videos that have surfaced on social media, a group of students can be seen sloganeering, 바카라�Pukaarti Ma Bharti, khoon se tilak karo, goliyon se aarti바카라� (Mother India calls you to put a tilak of blood and revere her with bullets) and 바카라�Desh ke gaddaron, Bharat choro바카라� (Traitors of the country, must leave India). 

Former ABVP president, CURAJ, Vikas Pathak, told Outlook "We learnt about the banned documentary screening through social media. We saw a gathering of 40-45 students watching the documentary in public near the post office. We told them not to screen a film that has been banned in our country. But none of them listened바카라�. 

Denying the accusations made by the suspended students, Pathak said that no violence or threats took place. "We only talked to them, but they started arguing with us,바카라� he claimed. 

Virendra Singh, Sub-inspector at Bandar Sindari police station, Kishangarh told Outlook, 바카라�So far, we have received no complaint or FIR. The mobile police van went inside the campus after learning about two groups creating a ruckus over the screening of the documentary inside the campus.바카라� 

Students suspended over indiscipline  

Refuting the allegation of 11 students that they were suspended over the documentary screening, the CURAJ said, 바카라�It is a routine disciplinary action taken against the students for breaching the code of conduct instead of screening of a documentary.바카라� 

While talking to Outlook, the university authorities denied the charges and said that it took action on the disciplinary ground and it had nothing to do with the documentary screening.

The university authority claims that the suspension was done under Ordinance 47, which deals with discipline issues. Clauses 3.3 (indiscipline) and 3.5 (assembling and demonstration at late hours at places other than designated sites) were cited in the suspension order. 

Suspension of students 바카라�communally selective바카라�? 

In a letter to CURAJ Vice-Chancellor Anand Bhalerao, the People바카라�s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) called the suspension of students 바카라�communally selective바카라�. 바카라�Out of the suspended students, eight are Muslim, one is Christian and one is Hindu. The PUCL is clear that no screening of any film happened on the 26th of January 2023. And the question of individual viewing on mobiles is a private matter and comes within the right to privacy of the students", reads the statement issued by the PUCL. 

PUCL national president Kavita Srivastava termed the action 바카라�an egregious abuse of power by the university authorities and demanded that the suspension orders be withdrawn 바카라�immediately바카라�. 바카라�The students were never heard. No inquiry gave them a hearing and without the students being given a right to a hearing and without being issued show cause notices, they were expelled for 15 days from the university and hostel. The authorities should be protecting and defending the freedom of speech and expression of the students as a part of the right to education and critical thinking바카라�, Srivastava said in a letter to the VC.