Three Students Suspended for Shouting “Pakistan Zindabad” for Fun, Arrested and Released on Bail
NEW DELHI, Nov 20: Three engineering students in Bengaluru were suspended by the college authorities for shouting “Pakistan Zindabad” slogan and were handed over to the police who later released them on station bail. All the three happened to be Hindus and the police said their shouting the slogan was “not intentional.”
The three students were of New Horizon College of Engineering and they were arrested after a video of them shouting “Pakistan Zindabad” went viral on social media. The students, suspended by their college authority, were later released on bail.
According to police, the New Horizon College of Engineering was preparing to host an inter-college fest on November 25-26, and as part of the preparation some students were seen chanting the names of their favourite Indian Premier League (IPL) teams and countries.
Three students, Aryan, Dinakar and Riya, all aged between 17 and 18 years, were suddenly seen shouting “Pakistan Zindabad”, even as another student made a video recording of the incident. The police said “the students shouted slogans for fun. They have been released on station bail and told to cooperate with the investigation.” One of their friends had recorded the video and put it on the social media for fun without realising the ramifications of the act.
A case was registered against the students at Marathahalli Police Station for provocation, with an intent to trigger riot and generate fear among the public. The parents of the students were summoned by the college administration and told that they had been suspended.
Whitefield Deputy Commissioner of Police later said: “One of their own friends recorded the video. The college administration suspended them and lodged a complaint with us. We first arrested them and booked them under bailable sections. They were later released on station bail. Their act wasn’t intentional.”
(Manas Dasgupta)
