As many as eight students of the Aligarh Muslim University have been suspended after a scuffle accrued between AMU students and crew members of Republic TV channel.
As communicated by Omar Peerzada, an AMU official, eight students identified as Ajay Singh, Manish Kumar, Aman Sharma, Pavan Jadon, Imran Khan, Abdul Mabood, Farhan Zubairi and Adil Khan have been accused of creating indiscipline and nuisance in the university campus leading to their suspension.
Speaking to Newsd, Omar told that the mentioned students disrupted the environment of campus and provoked others to ransom the motor bikes at University Administrative block as well as Bab-E-Syed gate which has distorted the image of the university.
Meanwhile, at least 12 AMU students were booked for offenses including sedition, after a confrontation with a crew of Republic TV. An FIR was filed by the police based on a complaint by a Bharatiya Yuva Janata Morcha leader.
The entire incident started when a team of Republic TV tried to enter the AMU campus even after being stopped by the security guards.
As communicated by Omar, “no media was invited at the campus to cover the on going event. However, Republic TV journalists put on the live coverage from the campus. When students and security personals tried to stop the reporters from live coverage, the reporters abused the guards.”
“The crew was politely asked for showing the permission letter to go beyond however, reporters had nothing to show.”
Dramatically differing accounts emerged from the campus. Student activists wrote on social media that the TV crew were aiming to instigate a reaction for the camera, and announced they were “standing in a university of terrorists“.
Meanwhile, Republic TV persons claimed its crew was ‘manhandled’ by students while they were filming on the campus and their camera was smashed.. A reporter denied allegations that they tried to provoke students, tweeting that they were on campus but “reporting on a story that had nothing to do with AMU”.
After the fracas, suspected members of BJP and its affiliates, allegedly armed with guns, started attacking the AMU students.
Complaints were filed at the Civil Lines Police Station by both the AMU authorities and the TV channel crew.
A complaint was also filed by some Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members, who alleged that they were beaten up near the Faiz Gate and a motorcycle, belonging to one of them, was set on fire.
