The FIR was registered based on the varsity proctor's complaint, in which he said students associated with the Muslim Students Federation planned to conduct an event in support of "Palestine" to create disharmony.
Published Oct 21, 2023 | 6:00 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 21, 2023 | 1:14 PM
Students protest on the EFLU campus on Thursday, 19 October, 2023, following regarding the probe into the sexual assault incident. (Supplied)
Hours after protests over an alleged sexual assault of a female postgraduate student in Hyderabad’s English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), an FIR was registered against 11 students on Friday, 19 October for allegedly “promoting enmity” and “inciting violence”.
The varsity’s Proctor T Samson, who filed the complaint based on which the students were booked, stated that the Muslim Students Federation (MSF) planned to conduct a programme in support of Palestine on the EFLU campus with the intention of flaring communal tensions and creating disharmony.
The students said the event — titled “Palestine: Perspectives on Literary Resistance” — was solely a literary discussion scheduled to take place at the EFLU’s New Academic Block on Thursday.
However, the university administration denied them permission due to a ban on non-academic activities, and claimed the MSF had an “overtly communal background.” As a result, a standoff occurred between the students and university officials.
While the university claimed that the event was staged to “destabilise” the administration’s operations, the students denied any such intention.
They claimed that the FIR against 11 of them was an attempt by the university to divert attention from their demands of a swift probe into the sexual assault incident and the reconstitution of the anti-sexual-harassment SPARSH committee.
Samson, in his complaint that was accessed by South First, said around 200 students gathered in front of his residence on Thursday morning, holding the university responsible for the security lapse that apparently led to the female student’s assault.
He added that the students used physical force and abused him. They also prevented him from accessing drinking water or washroom facilities, he added.
The complaint stated that subsequently, 11 students coerced him into calling up BS Sherin, an associate professor from the Department of Comparative Literature and India Studies, and Ipshita Chanda, a professor with the same department, to come and join the protest, which to him seemed “highly dubious”.
While noting that the agenda of the protest was to demand — through the circulation of messages on social media — the resignation of Vice-Chancellor E Suresh Kumar and the Proctorial Board, the complainant also said the whole episode was orchestrated by the 11 students to discredit the university and disrupt the administrative functioning.
P Anjaneyulu, the station house officer (SHO) of the Osmania University Police Station, told South First, “The complainant said the students intervened in his personal life and he was gheraoed at his home. This was an administrative matter, and so students should have taken it up in the office building.”
He added that the police were also investigating the role of both the professors in the incident.
The 11 students named in the FIR have been booked under IPC Sections 153 (intention to cause riots), 153a (promoting enmity),143, and 149 (unlawful assembly).
A student associated with the MSF told South First on the condition of anonymity that the organisers had already informed “all the administration staff” about the literary discussion programme’s cancellation.
“It was purely an academic discussion. We did not distribute any pamphlets or hard copies [of the invitation to the event]. Information was shared through social media only. The FIR lodged is not factual as two of the people named were not even on campus during the alleged events,” the student said.
EFLU students protested outside the administrative building on 17 October. (Supplied)
One of the students named in the FIR refuted the claims that all 11 are associated with the MSF.
“None of us are part of the MSF in any way. There are around 300 students, but they are just targeting 11 of us. This is clear discrimination,” the aforementioned student told South First.
Sources close to Sherin, whose name was mentioned in the FIR, told South First that she was on campus at the behest of the administration to help the survivor of the alleged sexual harassment.
“She came to the campus to help the student coordinate with the police. But she was dragged into the Palestine discussion issue by the police and the administration. There are now claims that she organised the Palestine issue,” said the sources.
“This is a clear ploy to take the attention away from the sexual harassment issue and save the face of the administration. The assistant professor is now contemplating legal action once the administration’s stand becomes clear, and she is not in a situation to speak to the media right now,” they added.
The students who were protesting against the sexual assault of a female student since around 4 am on Thursday morning said Proctor Samson, while addressing them, denied their demands because of the CCTV footage.
“This was also due to the poor placement of street lamps and cameras. Whatever CCTV footage was recovered turned out to be grainy and dark in nature,” a student enrolled in an undergraduate course at the EFLU told South First.
The students also claimed that the proctor referred to the attack as a “small incident” and laughed at the cries of outrage from the students. “In addition, the registrar publicly demanded the identity of the survivor,” they said.
The protests continued throughout the day at the university on Thursday. Around evening, the police registered an FIR under Sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC.
Meanwhile, the students said in a statement that at around 1 am on Friday, the police personnel intimidated them while they were “peacefully protesting” and demanding that the vice-chancellor address them.
They added that the situation escalated to a point where the police began using physical force so that the vice-chancellor and the proctor could leave the campus.
“Three police officers randomly picked a male student and dragged him through the roads to detain him; but he managed to escape with the help of some students. The students were made to run helter-skelter in a state of panic, and some female students were intimidated further by the police,” the students claimed in their statement.
The survivor of Thursday’s incident claimed was “sexually and physically assaulted” near the old health centre area by two men.
“She was subsequently found unconscious by two other students. The perpetrators apparently told her explicitly that they saw her on the frontlines of the previous protest,” a student told South First earlier.
She was then taken to the health centre for initial treatment.
“The survivor said the health centre officials not only treated this matter with insensitivity but also discouraged any attempts from our end to make the incident public,” the aforementioned student said.
In a statement, the survivor said she had gone for a walk when two men pulled her hair from behind before dragging her towards the old health centre.
“One man was tall and muscular and the other was of medium height. Both were wearing dark hoodies. They said ‘saw you today’ and ‘this should not happen’. I think they meant the protest (regarding reconstitution of the SPARSH committee) on campus,” she said.
As per reports, a friend of the survivor claimed that the police officials were also insensitive towards the survivor’s plight with their questions.
Around 8.30 pm on Monday, the EFLU students sat on a demonstration demanding the reconstitution of the SPARSH committee, which they claimed had been defunct since 2020.
The students said their demands still exist. They are also demanding:
The varsity management reportedly met the students with an olive branch on Tuesday night, but it did not lead to a resolution.
“They have given verbal assurances that it will happen alongside the general student union elections, scheduled for next month. They have also not acknowledged the demand for LGBTQIA+ and student representation,” a student told South First earlier.
