Students from Saket College in Ayodhya have been booked on charges of sedition after they raised ‘Azaadi’ slogans during a protest. The students claim that they were protesting against the delay in announcing the dates for the students’ union elections.
Former president of Saket College students’ union, Abhas Krishna Yadav, told TOI, “Students were raising ‘azaadi’ slogans as they were seeking freedom from the corrupt principal and anti-student system of the college, and demanding to hold student union elections.”
The sedition case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by the principal of the college. Sumit Tiwari, Shesh Narayan Pandey, Imran Hashmi, Satvik Pandey, Mohit Yadav and Manoj Mishra have been booked under Sections 124 A (sedition), 147 (rioting), 188 (disobedience to order), 332 (causing hurt to deter public servant from duty), 342 (wrongfully confinement), 353 (assault on public servant), 427 (causing damage to property), 435 (mischief by fire or explosive substance) and 506 (offence of criminal intimidation) of the IPC.
The principal told reporters that the students “were raising slogans of ‘azaadi’, they wanted to take azaadi by revolt and by violence, by burning the country. It was my duty to protect the motherland, therefore, I have filed the complaint against them.”
