AFP, NEW DELHI: Students and teachers staged a fresh protest in New Delhi on Sunday over a union leader’s arrest at a top Indian university for sedition, accusing the government of cracking down on dissent.
Police on Friday arrested student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University over a campus rally days earlier to mark the anniversary of a Kashmiri separatist’s execution.
Mohammed Afzal Guru was hanged in 2013 following his conviction over an attack on the Indian parliament in 2001 that left 10 people dead.
Kumar has been accused of “anti-Indian” behaviour at Tuesday’s rally, during which some protesters allegedly shouted support for Guru and for India’s arch-rival Pakistan.
India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir but claim the Himalayan territory in full and have fought two of their three wars over it. Students and the opposition have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government of misusing British-era anti-sedition laws to quell dissent.
“The government and police can’t just shut down voices that don’t agree with them. Everyone in this country has a right to his opinion and that must be respected,” Delhi University student Arzoo Sahani said at a protest that drew more than 100 in the city centre, one of several since Friday.