Students at Delhi University's Faculty of Arts, who were detained yesterday, January 27 ahead of the screening of the controversial BBC documentary on PM Narendra Modi, have been released by the Delhi Police. The call for screening was given by the National Students' Union of India - Kerala Students Union (NSUI-KSU), as per an ANI report.
Several students from other organisations such as Fraternity Movement, Bhagat Singh Chatra Ekta Manch along with NSUI were detained, informed Ravinder Singh, who was one of them. "We were released around 8 pm yesterday. But we are not going to leave this here. We are trying to build a movement although we have nothing concrete decided on if we will screen the documentary again," he said.
Ahead of the screening at DU's Faculty of Arts, Proctor of the university, Rajni Abbi, said that there was no permission sought from the administration for the screening of the movie. "We have written to Delhi Police regarding this. They will take action. Proper police deployment would be done. We cannot allow such a screening," Abbi told PTI. The row escalated as Delhi Police imposed Section 144 of the Code Of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) yesterday, January 27, which was lifted later in the day.
The ban on the documentary has led to a new controversy in the nation. Earlier this month, the Indian government evoked emergency laws to ban the BBC documentary, India: The Modi Question, calling it a propaganda piece. The documentary was also taken down from many social media sites including Twitter and YouTube. However, students at various central universities have screened the documentary, leading to a clash between students and the administration.
