13 students detained for organising BBC documentary screening at Jamia released: Police

Scores of students were detained on Wednesday as they gathered outside the university gate to protest against the detention of four SFI activists

Thirteen students detained for organising a screening of the BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots at Jamia Millia Islamia on Wednesday have been released, officials said.

The detained students were released after the Republic Day parade on Thursday, a senior police officer said.

The government had recently directed social media platforms to block links to the documentary titled India: The Modi Question. The External Affairs Ministry has trashed the documentary as a "propaganda piece" that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.

Scores of students were detained on Wednesday as they gathered outside the university gate to protest against the detention of four Students' Federation of India (SFI) activists hours before the proposed screening.

While the police released a majority of the detained students on Wednesday evening, 13 remained in detention, the SFI had claimed.

The SFI announced the screening of the documentary on Wednesday.

Of the 13 detained students, four -- SFI Jamia Unit Secretary Azeez, SFI South Delhi Area Vice-President Nivedya and units members Abhiram and Tejas -- were detained on Wednesday morning, the students' organisation alleged.

All four are students of Jamia Millia Islamia, they added.

"Four students were detained on Wednesday morning. Its been over 24 hours since they have been detained. The rest were detained later in the evening," SFI Delhi Committee Secretary Pritish Menon said.

The university on Wednesday became the centre of a kerfuffle after SFI's plans to organise the screening of the controversial BBC documentary were thwarted by the varsity and the police.