: Indo-American academics based in New York and the community of New York University have released separate statements expressing solidarity with the students of JNU.
Voicing support for freedom of speech, the NYU community said: “Student liberties, as well as the right to free speech protected in the Indian Constitution, were irreparably damaged by the State-sanctioned police action on the JNU campus, and the unjustified arrest of the student union President, Kanhaiya Kumar on the grounds of sedition.”
The statement called the sedition charges “grave and entirely inappropriate in the present circumstances”.
Condemning the arrest of students’ leader Kanhaiya Kumar and police action against other students, the academics wrote: “The arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, the student union president, and the charges of sedition against him, Umar Khalid, and other students are emblematic of the continued attempts to muzzle dissenting voices. The swarms of police on JNU’s campus, even as they stand mute when right-wing goons attack protesting students and faculty outside, are evidence of the efforts to repress voices against the assaults on freedoms and rights in India.”
The statements were shared with The Hindu by Bedatri Datta Choudhury, a student at NYU. She is a signatory in both the statements.
Indo-American academics and
NYU expressed
solidarity with the students of JNU
