<p>Bengaluru: Two hundred students of Azim Premji University (APU), Sarjapur Road campus, boycotted classes and staged a protest on Thursday, demanding immediate withdrawal of an FIR against Spark Reading Circle, a student community at the university.</p>.<p>The protest followed the university’s decision to pursue criminal charges against its students in the wake of a discussion announced recently by Spark Reading Circle, affiliated with All India Students’ Association (AISA), on the 1991 Kunan Pashpora mass rape in Kashmir. The university said "the event did not happen" and protesters were "misinformed". </p>.<p>The event was disrupted ABVP members, who blackened name board of the varsity outside the main gate and wrote "Ban Spark" on the university premises, vandalised property, shouted slogans and assaulted security guards and students.</p>.<p>The Student Council and members of AISA slammed the university administration for 'disproportionate response'. Twenty-five ABVP activists were released on bail. But students behind Spark Reading Circle face non-bailable charges, they said.</p>.<p>The FIR, that followed a complaint by the varsity registrar, invokes Sec 299 of BNS, concerning acts intended to outrage religious feelings and Sec 67 of IT Act, 2008.</p>.<p>A statement from APU Student Council read. “To respond to critical thinking with an FIR undermines intellectual freedom".</p>.<p>In its complaint, the varsity said it had no knowledge of the event and that such "unauthorised" activities compromise safety of the campus.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: Two hundred students of Azim Premji University (APU), Sarjapur Road campus, boycotted classes and staged a protest on Thursday, demanding immediate withdrawal of an FIR against Spark Reading Circle, a student community at the university.</p>.<p>The protest followed the university’s decision to pursue criminal charges against its students in the wake of a discussion announced recently by Spark Reading Circle, affiliated with All India Students’ Association (AISA), on the 1991 Kunan Pashpora mass rape in Kashmir. The university said "the event did not happen" and protesters were "misinformed". </p>.<p>The event was disrupted ABVP members, who blackened name board of the varsity outside the main gate and wrote "Ban Spark" on the university premises, vandalised property, shouted slogans and assaulted security guards and students.</p>.<p>The Student Council and members of AISA slammed the university administration for 'disproportionate response'. Twenty-five ABVP activists were released on bail. But students behind Spark Reading Circle face non-bailable charges, they said.</p>.<p>The FIR, that followed a complaint by the varsity registrar, invokes Sec 299 of BNS, concerning acts intended to outrage religious feelings and Sec 67 of IT Act, 2008.</p>.<p>A statement from APU Student Council read. “To respond to critical thinking with an FIR undermines intellectual freedom".</p>.<p>In its complaint, the varsity said it had no knowledge of the event and that such "unauthorised" activities compromise safety of the campus.</p>
