Chaos at Azim Premji University: Police book Spark Reading Circle after ABVP protests Kashmir 'talk' on APU campus

BENGALURU: Hours after ABVP staged a protest inside Azim Premji University campus, Sarjapur, on Tuesday evening, the registrar of the university filed a police complaint against office bearers from Spark Reading Circle, accusing them of hosting the programme without the university’s consent.


Chaos prevailed after ABVP members, the student organisation affiliated with RSS, barged into the campus protesting a scheduled discussion on Kashmir at the university. Police arrested 25 ABVP activists for trespassing and vandalising. As a precautionary measure, 2 platoons of the State Reserve Police Force were deployed at APU.


However, APU registrar Rishikesh BS, in his complaint, stated that they were unaware of the programme or the talks. The discussion was organised by Spark APU, a reading circle affiliated with the All India Students Association (AISA), the student wing of CPI (M-L). According to social media posts, the discussions aimed at the atrocities carried out by army men at Kunan-Poshpora villages around 35 years back.

Rishikesh’s complaint read: “I came across social media posts by Spark Reading Circle which stated, ‘Kunan-Poshpora saw one of the most gruesome incidents of mass rape on the intervening night of February 23-24, 1991. Both the villages were cordoned off by armed troopers at Treggam around 11.30 pm. The men were dragged out of their homes and tortured in a makeshift barn. Around 35 women were brutally gang-raped by the army men till 9 am the following day. The victims ranged in age from 13-80 years. 35 years on, not a single conviction took place. Despite there being constant pressure to close the case, the victims are still fighting an unequal battle for justice. This is just one among numerous instances of violence inflicted on people of Kashmir. Join us for the discussion on violence by the Indian State of Kashmir at Kabira,’” Rishikesh quoted the post.

Further, Rishikesh stated that following the posts, ABVP activists trespassed into the campus, attacked a student and a security personnel, and vandalised boards and other materials.

According to Rishikesh, there is a place named Kabira on the campus, where cultural activities take place. “We were never contacted by individuals from Spark Reading Circle, nor was any written permission given to them. In the past also, Spark Reading Circle spread false and defamatory information about our institution. Now, they made communally hateful messages by taking the name of our institution,”

Based on the complaint, Sarjapur police booked the criminal case against office bearers from Spark Reading Circle under section 299 (Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or beliefs.) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Information Technology Act.

Meanwhile, a local court granted bail to the 25 arrested ABVP activists on Wednesday.