13 Jamia students held over BBC series on Modi still in custody: SFI

Thirteen students of Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi remained in custody on Thursday since being detained for trying to screen a BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Students Federation of India (SFI) said.

All of them were taken into custody on Wednesday, the student wing of the CPI(M) said.

The government had told social media platforms to block links to the documentary, ‘India: The Modi Question’. The External Affairs Ministry has trashed the documentary as propaganda.

Scores of students were detained on Wednesday as they gathered outside the university gate to protest against the detention of four SFI members hours before the proposed screening.

Arrests

While the police released a majority of the detained students on Wednesday evening, 13 remain in detention, the SFI’s Pritish Menon said.

They include SFI Jamia Unit Secretary Azeez, SFI South Delhi Vice President Nivedya and SFI members Abhiram and Tejas. All are students of Jamia.

The SFI had said the documentary would be screened at 6 pm on Wednesday.

But the SFI’s plans were foiled by the university and the police.

(With inputs from agencies)