'Withdraw FIR Against Spark, Protect Academic Freedom,' Lawyers’ Collective Urges Azim Premji University
Bengaluru: The National Alliance for Justice Accountability and Rights (NAJAR) – a collective of lawyers, law students, and legal professionals – expressed solidarity with Azim Premji University students and Spark Reading Circle members after the university administration filed a complaint against the latter following vandalism by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) members over an event on alleged state violence in Kunan Poshpora, Kashmir.
"We call upon the university administration to withdraw the FIR against Spark and to reaffirm its commitment to protecting academic freedom and student safety. We urge the Karnataka State Police to conduct an impartial investigation into the vandalism and targeted violence, and to ensure that those responsible are held accountable under law," NAJAR wrote in a statement issued on Thursday (February 26).
Read the full statement here:
The National Alliance for Justice Accountability and Rights (NAJAR) a collective of lawyers, law students and legal professionals across India expresses its unequivocal solidarity with the students of Azim Premji University and the members of Spark Reading Circle in the wake of the recent assault on campus democracy by members of ABVP as well as by APU administration.
We strongly condemn the forcible entry and vandalism carried out by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on the Bengaluru campus of Azim Premji University. Disrupting a peaceful academic discussion, scribbling threats such as “Ban Spark,” intimidating students, targeting individuals on the basis of their attire and identity, and attempting to communalise an intellectual engagement are not acts of student politics, they are acts of coercion and violence. They strike at the very heart of what a university space is meant to embody: dialogue, dissent, and critical inquiry.
The discussion organised by Spark Reading Circle marked 35 years of state violence in Kunan Poshpora which was to mark the annual Kashmiri Women’s Resistance Day, a subject that forms part of India’s contested and painful history. Universities must remain spaces where such questions can be examined without fear. Branding students as “anti-national” for engaging in critical discussion is a familiar and dangerous tactic. Even more disturbing are reports that students wearing skull caps were specifically targeted, and that the police initially failed to intervene decisively while intimidation unfolded in plain sight.
NAJAR is equally concerned by the subsequent registration of an FIR under Section 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and provisions of the IT Act - against Spark for allegedly “hurting religious sentiments.” Such FIRs on the students in a state where the Govt. came to power on its promise of safeguarding the Constitution is deeply disturbing. It is even more problematic that the said FIR was registered on the basis of a written complaint from the University administration allegedly because the members of Spark reading club did not take administration’s permission before organising the reading session. Even if that were true, the administration should have taken recourse of internal disciplinary processes in a fair and impartial manner instead of filing a police complaint.
We have carefully gone through the FIR, and it is evident that there is no concrete or specific ground made out to invoke Section 299 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The invocation of such a serious provision, in the absence of clear ingredients being satisfied, raises serious concerns about overreach and the criminalisation of student expression. The complaint, on its face, has nothing whatsoever to do with religion-let alone any act that could amount to hurting religious sentiments. In these circumstances it is unfathomable as to how Section 299 has been invoked at all. Moreover, the FIR does not name any specific individual. Instead, it vaguely refers to “WHO OPEN Spark Reading Circle, APU Instagram Account” - a formulation that appears deliberately broad, enabling the inclusion of multiple persons.
The use of criminal law to silence discussion is a pattern we have witnessed across campuses and civil society spaces. Invoking penal provisions in response to debate and academic engagement has a chilling effect on free expression and undermines Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution. The threshold for criminality cannot be reduced to ideological disagreement or political discomfort.
We also note with concern that this incident is not isolated. Over the past decade, student spaces at institutions such as Jawaharlal Nehru University, Banaras Hindu University, and Jadavpur University have witnessed similar attempts to police dissent and stifle debate through intimidation and spectacle. When mobs are emboldened and speech is criminalised, democratic culture erodes.
We call upon the university administration to withdraw the FIR against Spark and to reaffirm its commitment to protecting academic freedom and student safety. We urge the Karnataka State Police to conduct an impartial investigation into the vandalism and targeted violence, and to ensure that those responsible are held accountable under law.
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