On December 26, 13 individuals including 3 females affiliated with Bhagat Singh Students Morcha (BSM), a Marxist students organisation in Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, were sent to 14-day judicial custody by Varanasi District court following a discussion against Manusmriti by them on December 25, an act commemorating Manusmriti Dahan Divas, originally marked by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s burning of the text in 1927.
The youngsters were taken into custody on Wednesday after their discussion at the Arts Faculty of the university was disrupted by the university officials followed by a scuffle between guards and students. All 13 including nine students and four alumni of BHU are presently in District Jail, Chaukaghat.
Slogans such as “Manusmriti Murdabad, Inquilab Zindabad, Jai Bhim, Phule-Ambedkar-Bhagat Singh Zindabad, Stop violence against students, Stop being slaves to the government” were raised by students at the magistrate’s office while being shifted to jail on Thursday night.
The jailed BHU students include 18-year-old Katyayani (BA), 19-year-old Mukesh (BA Hindi), 20-year-old Laxman Kumar (BA), 22-year-old Shubham (LLB), Adarsh (MA History), 23-year-old Avinash (MA Philosophy), Arvind Yadav (MA Hindi), 25-year-old Arvind Pal (MA Hindi), and 27-year-old Sandeep (BA).
The jailed BHU alumni include 29-year-old Dr. Anupam, 27-year-old Ipshita, 22-year-old Siddi, and 22-year-old Amar.
Ipshita and Siddhi, currently in jail, are the secretary and joint secretary of the organization, which also faced state repression from the NIA in 2023.
The reporter accessed the FIR, which was neither uploaded online nor provided to the lawyer by the police. FIR number 523/24 was registered by Lanka Police Station, Varanasi, only on Thursday, despite the students being taken into custody on Wednesday.
All 13 were booked under sections 132 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 121 (2) (Voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt to deter public servant from duty), 196 (1) (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 299 (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), 110 (Attempt to commit culpable homicide), 191(1) (Rioting), 115(2) (Voluntarily causing hurt) of BNS.
The police press release states that the arrest was carried out by a team led by Shivakant Mishra, Inspector of Lanka Station, under the directives of the Commissioner of Police, Varanasi, to maintain law and order in the district.
The press release further accused the students of attempting to burn the Manusmriti, assaulting security personnel, hindering government work, engaging in vandalism, and spreading religious intolerance.
Additionally, it states that the university’s Chief Security Officer reported that the students’ attempt to burn the Manusmriti was intended to incite religious intolerance as part of a premeditated plan. Two female security personnel sustained serious injuries while trying to pacify the students.
The BHU Chief Proctor Prof. Surya Pratap Singh was unavailable for comments.
The lawyer representing BSM, Adv. Prem Prakash Singh Yadav told The Observer Post that the seized phones of students were not mentioned in the general diary and arrest memo.
He said, “We fear that police might fabricate any documents on the phones to implicate the jailed youngsters. The phones were seized in violation to supreme court guidelines”.
When the reporter contacted the Lanka Police Station, the person who answered the call yawned and disconnected it.
Ipsitha had posted a video on Instagram before her arrest, claiming that male participants were taken to the Proctor’s office and assaulted. She also said the guards broke her spectacles. While Ipsitha was speaking, noises of confrontation could be heard in the background.
In another video, injured student Laxman, also jailed, described being beaten by guards, his clothes torn, and being locked in the Proctorial room.
Dismissing the accusations against BSM, Aakansha Azad, President of BSM and an alumna of BHU, told The Observer Post, “We deny all the fabricated allegations raised against us by the university-police nexus. They want to crush dissent and our organization. In fact, they are suppressing every civil organization that questions this RSS fascist government.”
“There was no burning of the Manusmriti as alleged; we were only discussing the significance of Ambedkar’s act of burning it. Manusmriti is the text which gives women, lower caste and Dalits a status worse than that of an animal. Even if we had intended to burn it, it is not a crime. On December 25, many people burn it annually across the country.”
Aakansha, who visited the jailed students, told reporters that the prisoners have asked for solidarity from society.
Detailing the ordeal, she said, “While the discussion on Manusmriti was underway, the guards of the BHU Proctorial Board arrived and started misbehaving with the students. They dragged them and detained them in the Proctorial Board Office around 7:30 pm.”
She added, “The guards restrained and physically assaulted the students, resulting in injuries. Their clothes were torn, and their glasses were broken. The students who gathered at the Proctorial Board to support the detained individuals were also assaulted and subsequently detained.”
She continued, “The university guards and police threatened the students. They forcefully took away all the detained individuals, including three girls, by beating them and forcibly loading them into a police van. All 13 students were locked up at the Lanka police station overnight, their phones were seized, and they were not even allowed to contact a lawyer, parents, or friends.”
“It was the security personnel who beat us, but the FIR accuses us as attackers. This is a well-organized move by the BJP-RSS government and BHU authorities,” remarked Aakansha.
“What kind of democracy exists in this country that jails citizens for discussing Manusmriti?” she asked.
All 13 in custody were only produced before magistrate Sushri Jayati on Thursday evening.
Condemning the interrogation of jailed students by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the attempt to red-tag BSM, Aakansha said, “To create a narrative of a ‘conspiracy against the state’ by ‘urban-naxals,’ the state has been pressuring from above to escalate the already fabricated case to harsh, non-bailable offenses. As part of this strategy, the ATS has interrogated some of the arrested students regarding ‘urban-naxals.’ The state has planted this narrative in various sold-out media.”
“By deliberately creating the narrative that protesting students are a threat to the state, the government wants to portray progressive students at BHU as terrorists and enemies of the state. This paves the way for future repression of student organizations that resist this corporate-fascist state. We call on all democratic citizens and organizations to reject and expose this,” she concluded.
Earlier a row in BHU had erupted in 2023 against the decision of the Department of Dharmashastra and Mimansa to include a project titled “Applicability of Manusmriti in Indian Society”.
The National Secretary of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and journalist from Uttar Pradesh, Seema Azad, told The Observer Post, “In an ‘independent’ country, sending someone to jail under such severe sections for having a critical discussion on Manusmriti clearly reflects these fascist times.”
She added, “If Babasaheb Ambedkar were alive today, this government would have put him in jail for his work establishing the rights of Dalits and women.”
Seema further stated that the proctorial board of the university and the police should be booked for assaulting the students and forcibly stopping democratic discussions.
In protest against the jailing, the Progressive Students Association (PSA), a Marxist student organization at JNU, has announced an effigy burning of the Yogi government on Friday.
Condemning the incarceration of students, Ambedkarite and Gujarat Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani told The Observer Post, “This itself reflects the Manuvadi mindset of the ruling party, BJP. Having a discussion on the casteist elements in the Manusmriti is by no means an offense. It should be discussed so that we can understand what kind of society should not be created.”
He further said, “If the RSS respects the Constitution and Ambedkar, they should also burn the Manusmriti.”
Mevani also demanded that Narendra Modi prohibit the publication of the Manusmriti.
Ujjwal Raman Singh, former UP state minister and Congress MP from Allahabad told The Observer Post, “I presume that before conducting an inquiry and giving them a chance to explain, the university administration has overreacted to the issue.”
He added, “The incarcerated individuals should receive justice and be immediately released on bail.”
Condemning the university administration and Yogi Adityanath’s police, Ujjwal said, “The excessive force used by university guards is condemnable, and the UP police have been deliberately used to crush all democratic movements.”
Ujjwal also vehemently criticized Amit Shah for his recent ‘fashion’ remarks mocking Ambedkar and slammed the Sangh Parivar for not adhering to the principles of the Constitution and their apparent desire to replace it.
A similar confrontation was reported in Delhi as well. Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch (BScem), a Marxist student organization in Delhi University, stated that the Delhi police called them on Tuesday, demanding the cancellation of the Manusmriti burning.
In a video, BScem said the police “assaulted” students, including women, and attempted to snatch the burning Manusmriti from their hands during the burning of the Manusmriti.
Weeks ago, Rahul Gandhi criticized the BJP govt by drawing parallels between Manusmriti and the Indian Constitution by holding them both in parliament.
The RSS has long been criticized for its “support of the Manusmriti”, a Brahmanical legal constitution that has been resisted by Bahujans for its “violence against Dalits and women”. On November 30, 1949, through their official mouthpiece Organiser, they glorified the Manusmriti.
Hindutva icon Savarkar once stated, “Manusmriti is that scripture which is most worshipable after the Vedas for our Hindu Nation and which, from ancient times, has become the basis of our culture, customs, thought, and practice.”
The second Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, M.S. Golwalkar, described Manu as the first, greatest, and wisest lawgiver of mankind.
The judicial system has also faced criticism over its association with the Manusmriti.
On February 24, 2023, the Supreme Court of India dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) requesting the removal of the statue of Manu, the Manusmriti’s author, from the Rajasthan High Court. The statue was installed in 1989 by the Rajasthan Judicial Officers Association, funded by the Lions Club.
On October 8, 2018, a Dalit woman, Kantabai Ahire, and an Adivasi woman, Sheela Pawar, from Maharashtra blackened Manu’s statue of Rajasthan HC. Mohammad Abdul Shaikh Dawood, a Muslim who accompanied the women, was also arrested for the act.
