Hyderabad University union terms FIR against students "witch hunting"

Hyderabad : The Student's Union of the University of Hyderabad condemned the First Information Reports (FIR) byTelangana Police against 14 students for protesting against CAA and NCR in February last year. The union on Sunday staged a protest on the campus.

Telangana Police slapped an FIR on student activists of the university on arbitrary charges for being part of a peaceful protest march organised by HCU Coordination Committee (HCC) in February against the anti-constitutional Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the union said.

The march was organised in February from University of Hyderabad to Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) and members of various student political organisations were collectively leading the rally.

The union reacted strongly to Cyberabad Police registering an FIR against students belonging to Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Bihar.

According to police, the students illegally gathered and marched to the MANUU. It alleged that the students tried to disturb the peaceful atmosphere on the campus through their speeches.

The union, however, said: "This is not the first time that the Telangana Police has intervened in lawful and peaceful protests and rallies taken out by Hyderabad University students. Several protest marches by the Students' Union were forcefully stopped by the police. They even detained an entire group of students to stop them from joining a massive protest that took place outside the university."

On January 26, the Telangana Police booked the Students' Union members along with 22 student activists on fake charges for organising a 'Save Constitution' rally to the Ambedkar Statue at Masjid Banda, it said.

"We have been witnessing how the Delhi Police under the direction of the central government has been hunting activists slapping them with draconian laws like UAPA for voicing against CAA and NRC. Now, the Telangana Police have also stooped to the same level wherein they target and hunt students who engage politically and raise questions to the state," it said.

"We vehemently condemn this move of Telangana Police to charge FIR on student activists of HCC for exercising their constitutional rights to raise their voice against injudicious and draconian, divisive and bigotry politics of the state. We request the student community to stand united in solidarity with the students of University of Hyderabad in the fight against the fascist regime and the anti-constitutional CAA-NRC," the union added.

(This report from IANS has been edited)