Ramjas ruckus: 2 ABVP members suspended and arrested; lawyer files sedition case against students

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) suspended on Wednesday two members after they were arrested for allegedly beating up two Jawaharlal Nehru University students after a protest march on Tuesday. They were booked for causing hurt and wrongful restraint.

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ABVP, the student wing of RSS, asked the police to take strict action against the two former members, Prashant Mishra of Kirori Mal College and Vinayak Sharma from Sri Venkateswara College. 

"The two students did not adhere to the rules of the ABVP and indulged in violence. Their membership from the party has been cancelled. We have also ordered an inquiry into the incident," read a press statement from the group's national media convener Saket Bahuguna. 

The victims said that the two men followed them from Patel Chest and attacked them close to Khalsa College. They were caught red-handed by the police and were taken to the Maurice Nagar police station. 

"They held my neck and tried to strangulate me with a belt. They also hit me in the eye and threatened to not spare us," said Aman Kumar, one of the victims.

ABVP said that one of the victims was from JNU and had picked a fight with DU students. They condemned violence in North Campus by "outsider communist goons."

Sedition plea filed

A sedition plea was filed against certain students who allegedly raised anti-India slogans at Ramjas College on February 21 when the seminar, where JNU student Umar Khalid was supposed to speak, was cancelled. The plea, filed by a lawyer Vivek Garg, claimed that students raised slogans after permission was withdrawn for the seminar called "Unveiling the State: Regions in Conflict" by the college principal.

He alleged that slogans like "Kashmir Maange Aazadi, Bastar Chahta Aazadi and Hum Kya Chahte Aazadi" were raised on campus by students belonging to All India Students' Association, Students'Federation of India and others. 

Garg said that JNU Ph.D scholar Umar Khalid, who was charged with sedition last year, was invited to the seminar. He further alleged that the organisers unlawfully got the permission for the seminar.