BJP governments in Bihar, Assam agree to release protesters, Bengal waits

Arrests, incarceration and the crackdown on protesters demanding the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as education minister would force them to resume protests, warned CPI(ML)-affiliated AISA (All India Students Association) and the Cockroach Janata Party on Monday evening. Hours later, the Bihar and Assam governments issued separate statements announcing the release of arrested protesters and assuring that they would not be harassed in future.

At midnight, representatives of the Union government met CJP spokesperson Saurav Das, showed him the statements issued by the Bihar and Assam governments, and assured him that the written text of the ‘agreement’ reached on Saturday, 25 July, would be shared by Tuesday.

“The BJP government will face a bigger agitation than the Jantar Mantar protest if arrested students are not released and false charges against them are not dropped,” warned AISA national president Neha Bora in Patna on Monday evening. “Four students were seriously injured in police firing in Bihar. Such firing orders come from the top. Action should be taken against senior police officials. Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari has said that 17 more students will be arrested. Two students were arrested in Mumbai for putting up posters demanding the release of Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid,” she told the media.

After meeting the arrested protesters at Beur Jail in Patna, Bora alleged that police personnel abused the protesters as “naxals” and threatened them with “encounter killings”. The protesters were allegedly abused, denied food for 36 hours, and a CPI(ML) legislator was picked up from his home and sent to jail, she claimed.

The Cockroach Janata Party, which had called off the protest “in good faith” on 25 July, also threatened to resume it if the protesters were not released by Tuesday, 28 July. CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka said in Delhi that the government had promised to share the written agreement on withdrawal of FIRs against protesters and an assurance of no fresh cases by Tuesday, after lawyers from both sides reviewed the draft.

Delhi Police, reported news agency ANI, alleged that as many as 2,873 men with criminal antecedents attended the Jantar Mantar protest site between 20 and 25 July. They were identified using the Facial Recognition System and other technical means and were allegedly involved in “heinous crimes like sexual assault, murder and crimes involving minors (POCSO),” the police claimed. Asked whether they were demanding that no police action be taken against people with criminal antecedents, CJP spokespersons asked the Delhi Police to first release the names and details of the pending cases.

Harassment of protesters also continued in Delhi and NCR with police reaching out to families for questioning. Parents of girls seen at Jantar Mantar, it was alleged, were interrogated and advised to keep girls away from protests. A few social media influencers complained that their handles were taken down following ‘legal demands made by the Indian government’.

While Union home minister Amit Shah is yet to make a statement in Parliament on police excesses, use of pellet guns and AK-47, government sources exuded confidence that proceedings in parliament would return to normal on Tuesday. The proceedings were washed out for the sixth day of the monsoon session on Monday following sustained opposition demand for a statement by the home minister. The Public Examinations Amendment Bill, introduced amidst the din, could not be taken up in the Lok Sabha due to protests. The logjam reportedly ended after Speaker Om Birla agreed to allot 10 hours for the debate, thus virtually conceding the opposition’s demand for a full debate on the student unrest.

“It is one of the gravest assaults on Democracy in our history. Never before have students been beaten, dragged, and treated like criminals for raising their voices. Home Minister Amit Shah must be held accountable! Why are students being picked up in BJP ruled states? Those responsible cannot escape accountability,” tweeted Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge. “Amit Shah should come out of hiding and answer for this brutal assault on students across the country,” posted MP K.C. Venugopal.