Abhijay Raj Vaish, Pune
A group of right-wing organization supporters barged into the campus of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune on Tuesday and engaged in an altercation with the students over a poster which read, “Remember Babri. Death of Constitution”. The banner was put up near the Wisdom tree in the campus situated at the Law college road which called the Babri masjid Demolition as unconstitutional following the Pran Pratishtha ceremony held in Ayodhya.
According to the police, the banner was set on fire by the men who claimed to be members of the Samasta Hindu Baandhav Sanghatana and have detained six suspects under charges of the CrPC. The incident has led to heavy police deployment both in and around the campus area where atleast four students were injured. The complaint was filed by Sanjay Jadhav, the security officer at FTII. The FIR mentioned a group of 12-15 people who gathered outside the campus and entered the campus illegally while chanting slogans. It stated that they were asking the students as to why they were doing ‘anti-national’ acts. They got angered upon seeing the banner and tore it down whilst setting it on fire.
The Deccan Gymkhana police stated that the event took place at around 1:30 pm at the FTII premises and said that,“Investigation has revealed that the members of the group do not belong to one outfit but multiple Hindutva right-wing groups based in Pune. We are in the process of identifying all the persons who were part of the group,”
Another officer from the station verified that complaints have also been lodged against the FTII students for putting up the banner and assaulting the men that entered the campus.