Students booked on sedition charges over "Free Kashmir" placard at protest in Mysuru

Mysuru: A sedition case has been registered against a group of students in connection with alleged display of a Free Kashmir placard during a protest in a campus of the Mysuru university against the attack on JNU students, police said on Thursday.

The case has been registered against Maridevaiah and others under Indian Penal Code sections 124-A (sedition) and 34 (acts done by several persons).

Mysuru Police Commissioner K T Balakrishna said the case had been registered suo motu (on their own) based on video and photographs showing one of the protestors ‘holding’ the placard which read Free Kashmir at the demonstration staged by some 100 students on Wednesday.

“Investigations are on to find out those who were involved in it,” he said.

The students were protesting against the violence in Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi on Sunday.

The protest was held by a Dalit students forum, Mysuru Researchers Association, Bahujan Vidyarthi Sangh, Students Federation of India and other left-Leaning student bodies under the leadership of Maridevaiah at the Manasa Gangotri campus of the university in Mysuru, police said.

The FIR said the organisers had not obtained permission for the protest. The case had been registered against Maridevaiah, who was leading it, and others.

Registrar of the university R Shivappa said the administration has issued notices to the organisations concerned seeking an explanation.

“We have also complained to the police against the organisations. They (protesters) had not taken permission from the university,” he said.