Published Mar 04, 2026 | 5:46 PM ⚊ Updated Mar 04, 2026 | 5:46 PM
Azim Premji University.
Synopsis: More than 400 academics and civil society members have written to Azim Premji University urging it to seek the closure of an FIR filed against its own students after ABVP members allegedly barged into the campus, vandalised property and assaulted a student on 24 February. The signatories said publicly available accounts show the immediate wrongdoing was the ABVP’s vandalism and assault, and warned against using criminal law to curb student expression.
More than 400 academics and members of civil society have written an open letter urging the administration of Azim Premji University in Bengaluru to seek the closure of an FIR filed against its own students.
The case followed members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the RSS’s youth wing, allegedly barging into the campus, vandalising property and assaulting a student on 24 February while attempting to stop a planned student discussion on the alleged 1991 Kunan-Poshpora mass rape.
After initially saying the event had not taken place, the university filed a police complaint days later against students associated with it, saying the event had been organised without prior administrative approval.
In the aftermath of the violence, police detained ABVP members and registered cases against them for bailable offences. In contrast, students of Azim Premji University have been booked under more serious sections.
In their open letter, the signatories said they held the university “in very high regard as an institution committed to constitutional values, critical inquiry, and ethical public engagement”.
“It is precisely because of that regard that we are deeply concerned by the filing of a police complaint leading to an FIR against a student-run reading circle in the aftermath of a violent attack on campus,” the letter said.
The signatories of the open letter said publicly available accounts show that the immediate wrongdoing in the incident was the vandalism and assault carried out by members of the ABVP.
They also warned against filing criminal complaints for mere infringements of campus procedure.
“Criminal law is an instrument of last resort. It must not be used to regulate student expression, to manage reputational anxiety, or to appease violent disruption by external political actors,” the letter said.
“Escalating a matter of campus governance into an FIR exposes students to the coercive machinery of the carceral state and risks permanently damaging the culture of trust and intellectual freedom essential to academic life. The continued pendency of a criminal case against students leaves them under the shadow of potential prosecution and sustains a climate of uncertainty.”
They urged the university to take immediate steps to ensure that no student faces criminal consequences for academic discussion or debate, and to use all available legal avenues to secure closure of the FIR.
“Moments of crisis test institutions. We urge Azim Premji University to act swiftly to restore confidence within its community and uphold the principles it has long espoused,” the letter said.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
