Fergusson college principal retracts complaint made asking for action against anti-national students
RG Pardeshi said he meant to ask police to act only if they found students guilty of shouting anti-national slogans, and that the first complaint had an error.
Principal of Pune’s Fergusson College on Wednesday retracted a police complaint that had asked for action to be taken against anti-national students, citing a typographical error. RG Pardeshi reportedly said he meant to ask for police action against students if they were found guilty of shouting anti-national slogans. ANI reported that Pardeshi will also meet the state’s education minister, following reports of students shouting anti-national slogans at an event held on the college's campus on Tuesday.
ANI said that Dalit organisations on Wednesday protested against the letter sent to police that had asked for an investigation. The Indian Express reported that, on Tuesday, an event organised by right-wing students’ organisation Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, was disrupted by others including BR Ambedkar’s great grandson, and members of Left and Ambedkarite groups. The administration then called police, who escorted both groups off campus. However, Akshay Bikkad, vice president of ABVP's Fergusson College campus unit and Siddharth Kamble, a student from the Ambedkarite group, told The Times of India that no anti-national slogans were shouted.
The incident comes after three Jawaharlal Nehru University students were arrested on charges of sedition, following allegations that they had shouted anti-national slogans at an event protesting the judicial hanging of Parliament attacks convict Afzal Guru.