Mumbai Police detain TISS students for holding memorial for G.N. Saibaba
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Mumbai: Mumbai Police detained and booked several students from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on Monday for organising a small gathering on campus to mark the first death anniversary of professor G.N. Saibaba, who passed away on October 12 last year.
According to students, the event was a quiet remembrance, where a few participants lit candles and held posters of Saibaba. However, police invoked sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita related to “causing prejudice to the nation”, promoting enmity between groups, and unlawful assembly, among others, against at least ten students, The Indian Express reported, citing an officer.
Saibaba, a former Delhi University professor who was over 90% disabled and wheelchair-bound, had spent nearly a decade in prison for alleged links with the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist). He was acquitted of all charges early last year, but his health deteriorated soon after, leading to his death in October 2024.
Students said the memorial was peaceful, with no speeches or sloganeering. “We only stood together for some time holding posters and candles,” said one student who attended the gathering.
Shortly after, a group of right-leaning students associated with the Democratic Secular Students Forum allegedly disrupted the event, tearing down Saibaba’s photos and hurling abuses. “They began taking our pictures and posting them online, tagging the Mumbai Police and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis,” said a master’s student.
Within hours, right-wing social media accounts circulated the photos, prompting a swift response from the police. By evening, multiple police vans from the Trombay Police Station — under whose jurisdiction the TISS campus falls — arrived at the institute.
Students said the police remained on campus through the evening, questioning several participants. “They have detained at least four students and are asking for the addresses of a few more,” one student told The Wire around 11 p.m. Monday. Another added that police confiscated laptops and mobile phones belonging to the detained students.
According to The Indian Express, the TISS administration became aware of the event only after social media posts surfaced. The institute later accused the students of holding a gathering without prior permission from either the administration or the police. The report also claimed that students had raised slogans in support of Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam — both facing prolonged incarceration in the 2020 Delhi riots case. However, students denied this allegation, saying no slogans were raised and the police were fabricating charges.
One student said officers presented a warrant to at least one of the detained individuals, though it remains unclear whether it was for arrest or search. Meanwhile, the police have also recorded details of students who gathered outside the hostel to show solidarity with those detained.
As of late Monday night, police questioning and detentions were reportedly still underway on the TISS campus.
