Second student arrested in Mumbai for criticizing Ram Temple event
Mumbai: A month after a Dalit student was arrested for allegedly posting a screenshot of a story on WhatsApp critical of the celebration of the inauguration of the Ayodhya Ram temple, police in Mumbai has arrested another student in the same case.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the Govandi police station in Mumbai arrested the 25-year-old student of the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) for allegedly posting a story on WhatsApp in protest against the January 22 Ram temple inauguration. The arrested student is from Kerela. According to the student’s classmates, the police reached the IIPS campus and arrested him there.
Another student, a Dalit from Maharashtra state, who had posted a screenshot of this student’s post, was arrested by the police on January 22.
Earlier, The Wire had reported about the frenzy that broke out on the IIPS campus following the celebrations carried out by Hindutva-leaning students in the institute.
A group of students, mostly belonging to Bahujan communities, had submitted a letter to institute’s director Dr S.K. Singh pointing to problem behind allowing the celebration on campus. The letter, the students said, was confidential and signed by at least 35 of them. The Dalit student from Maharashtra, who was the first one to be arrested, was one of the signatories of the letter.
While the institute failed to intervene and offer any solution to the concerns raised by the students, the letter was leaked and soon reached Hindutva activists both on and outside campus.
The students sought restrictions on celebrations on campus and said the celebration in question had the potential of further deepening the divisions among the student fraternity by spreading hate and fear.
Soon after the letter was leaked, the students said they were bullied into submitting an apology for hurting the sentiments of those celebrating the Ram temple inauguration.
