Uttar Pradesh police on Monday has dropped the sedition charges against the six students of Ayodhya’s KS Saket Degree College who were booked on December 23 allegedly over raising anti-national slogans on December 16.
“The sedition charge was removed as no evidence could be found,” said Ashutosh Mishra, the Station House Officer of Kotwali Ayodhya. He declined to comment further stating that the investigation is underway.
The six students were booked under the sedition charges following a complaint by the college’s principal N D Pandey on December 23. He had filed an FIR against 13 people including few outsiders and few student leaders majorly affiliated to the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samajwadi Party. Thereafter, SHO Ashutosh Mishra registered an FIR against six students.
“An FIR has been lodged under several sections against students on various charges, including arson. Some students even incited three students to kill themselves, who reached the rooftop of the college,” said SHO Mishra.
The students named in the FIR include Sumit Tewari, Shesh Narayan Pandey, Imran Hashmi, Satwik Pandey, Mohit Yadav, and Manoj Mishra.
The students were booked under Section 124A (sedition), Section 147 (rioting), Section 353 (assault on public servant), Section 427 (causing damage to property), Section 506 (offence of criminal intimidation), and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The college principal alleged that they raised slogans like “le ke rahenge Azadi (we will take our freedom), after entering the college, closing the gates, and misbehaving with the students.
However, the students have denied all the allegations and stated that they were demanding “Azadi” (freedom) from the principal and the anti-national policies of the college.
They were protesting seeking the declaration of the dates of student union elections which were pending since January 2020. The college management has scheduled the student polls on February 10, 2021.
