New Delhi: Thirteen students, detained for organizing a screening of a controversial BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat violence at the Jamia Millia Islamia on Wednesday, have not been released by police yet, the Students Federation of India claimed.
There was no immediate response from the Delhi Police to the claim made by the student’s body on Thursday, PTI reported.
The government had recently directed social media platforms to block links to the documentary titled “India: The Modi Question”.
Scores of students were detained on Wednesday as they gathered outside the university gate to protest against the detention of four Students Federation of India (SFI) members hours before the proposed screening of the documentary.
While police released a majority of the detained students on Wednesday evening, 13 are still in detention, the SFI claimed seeking an immediate release of the members.
Pertinently, on 28 February 2002, Hindu mobs who were part of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), unleashed massive violence against Muslims in Gujarat that went on for weeks killing thousands of Muslims.
About 3,000 Muslims were killed. Some 20,000 Muslim homes and businesses and 360 places of worship were destroyed, and roughly 150,000 people were displaced.
The massacre was unleashed after the burning of 59 Karsevaks on board the Sabarmati Express in Godhra which was probed and declared an accident.
Modi, the current Prime Minister of India, was accused of initiating and condoning the violence, instructing police to stand by and let Hindu mobs do acts of violence against Muslims.
Strong evidence links the Modi administration in Gujarat to the carefully orchestrated anti-Muslim attacks.
Hindu mobs had detailed lists of Muslim residents and businesses, and violence occurred within view of police stations.
An independent media, Tehelka, used hidden cameras to capture some of the accused speaking openly about how the attacks had Modi’s blessings.
