The 80th Indian History Congress, which concluded here on Monday, passed a resolution deploring the detention of four delegates during the inaugural function and suggested that the State government better train the police to manage security.
The executive committee, headed by IHC president Amiya Kumar Bagchi, said students who protested peacefully during the function were dragged out by the police, which it termed unacceptable.
The delegates protested and shouted slogans when the police dragged the students out despite an initial request of the Governor to allow them to protest.
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But the Governor turned against the delegates and blamed them for disrupting the function while urging the police to take them out. Such an unfortunate event should not have happened at a place of tolerant and composite culture, it opined.
‘No breach of protocol’
The committee was firm that there was no breach of protocol. “The IHC was in fact forced to change the procedure and well-established tradition of inviting the entire executive committee, general president, and sectional president on stage during the inauguration,” said IHC secretary Mahalakshmi Ramachandran.
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The committee requested the State government not to pass on personal details of the individuals detained to any Central or other agency.
Citing the police action at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Jamia Millia Islamia, and Aligarh Muslim University, the committee, in a resolution, said there was a police tendency to enter university campuses and commit violence.
The committee opined that the acts of violence were detrimental to academic freedom and research and instruction.