Polish student asked to leave India after attending anti-CAA rally
In what could be seen as a crackdown on dissent, a Polish student of Jadavpur University has been asked by the Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) to leave the country after he participated in an anti-CAA rally in the West Bengal capital, varsity sources said on Sunday (March 1).
Earlier, a Bangladeshi student of Visva Bharati University being issued a similar directive by the FRRO after she posted photographs of an anti-CAA demonstration, held on the campus, on social media.
According to the varsity source, Kamil Siedcynski, a Polish student of Comparative Literature, was asked by the FRRO to visit its Kolkata office, which he did on February 22. “Siedcynski was served a notice by the FRRO asking him to leave the country within a fortnight on receipt of the notice for alleged conduct deemed inappropriate for a foreign national staying in India on a student visa,” the source told PTI.
Related news: German student at IIT-M asked to leave India for taking part in CAA protests
However, the JU source added that, several teachers and Left-leaning students of the varsity were of the view that Siedcynski was paying the price for attending an anti-CAA rally at Moulali area in the city in December last year where he was interviewed by a Bengali daily and a brief report on him was published the next day.
“Some people probably forwarded a copy of the report to the FRRO. Siedcynski has no political leanings but his enthusiasm to attend the protest rally and click photographs landed him in trouble,” the source said.
Siedcynski, who was supposed to write his third-semester examinations this year, could not be contacted. JU vice-chancellor Suranjan Das and Registrar Snehamanju Basu also did not take calls. The Polish student had earlier studied Bengali at the Visva Bharati University.
Related news: 8 students injured, 2 booked for JNU-like clashes in Visva Bharati
Recently Afsara Anika Meem, a first-year Bangladeshi undergraduate student in the Fine Arts department of the Visva-Bharati University was served an FRRO notice for reportedly engaging in “anti-government” activities.
Both the foreign nationals have requested the FRRO to reconsider its decision and promised not to get involved in any such protests in the future, sources said. The FRRO, in turn, has said that a final decision will be taken in Delhi, the source said quoting the two students.
In December, a student from Germany studying Master of Science (Physics) at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, was asked to leave the country on Monday (December 23) for participating in a series of protests against the amended Citizenship Act.
(With inputs from PTI)
