‘Defamatory’ media and an FIR: What happened during AMU’s ‘pro-Palestine’ protest?

Three weeks ago, a primetime anchor on Zee UP-Uttarakhand declared that students at Aligarh Muslim University had “sloganeered in support of the terrorist group Hamas”.

The channel wasn’t alone. At least eight others – Network18 UP Uttrakhand, Times Now Navbharat, Times Now, Network18 India, ABP Ganga, India Today, News State, Republic World – had similar themes, with headlines like “Aligarh Muslim University students back Hamas attack” and “AMU students carried out march in support of Hamas”.

By October 9, the UP police registered an FIR against four students for shouting “inflammatory slogans...which will impact the peace and order in the society”. Based on a complaint from sub-inspector Azhar Hasan at Civil Lines police station, the students were booked under sections 153A (promoting enmity), 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by public servant) and 505 (circulating report with intent to create enmity or hatred) of the Indian Penal Code.

The FIR also said the protest was organised “without the university’s permission”.

However, the facts on the ground indicate the following:

First, around 300 students did participate in a protest at 8 pm on October 8 in support of Palestine, waving placards that said “Free Palestine” and “AMU Stands with Palestine”. Despite popular opinion, support for Palestine is not support for Hamas. 

Second, the students submitted a letter to the proctor’s office shortly before the protest that day, asking permission to hold the protest on campus “to bring attention” to issues in Palestine. The students said the protest would be conducted “peacefully and responsibly” without “disrupting regular academic activities”.

Soon after, the letter was rubber-stamped by the office of proctor Wasim Ali and the protest took place.

But after the FIR was filed, Ali told Newslaundry the stamp was just a formality and “does not imply the students were granted permissions”. The students, however, say this stamp is how the university has granted permission for protests in the past.

Vijay Singh, station house officer of Civil Lines police station in Aligarh, said the police were investigating the matter and so he could not comment on it.

‘Media coverage is defamatory’: Students

Since Israel began its airstrikes across Gaza, there have been a handful of demonstrations in India in support of Palestine.

In Bengaluru, the police booked 11 people for organising a pro-Palestine demonstration. A Muslim policeman was suspended in Lakhimpur Kheri after a pro-Palestine post on social media. Over 200 people were booked in Thane for staging a protest. Over 50 were detained in Delhi for a similar protest.

The police in Bengaluru, Thane and Delhi said permission hadn’t been sought for the protests.

In AMU, a group of students decided to hold a protest on October 8. It’s unclear which students spearheaded the protest. The permission letter submitted to the proctor was signed generically by “students of Aligarh Muslim University”. 

While over 300 students participated in the protest, only four students were named in the FIR: Atif Ahmed, Mohammed Khalid, Kamran and Naved Chaudhary. They told Newslaundry that while they had merely participated in the protest, they weren’t its chief organisers.

Khalid, 27, is a PhD student with the department of statistics and operation research. He completed his bachelor’s and postgraduate degrees from AMU too. 

Khalid claims he and the other three were named in the FIR because the AMU administration wanted to “target” them for organising another protest in September at the university’s main gate. This protest – of which Khalid, Kamran, Atif and Naved were the “main organisers” – had been over AMU not conducting elections for the students’ union for over five years. 

But university proctor Wasim Ali said, “It is not true that the university deliberately targeted them.”

Newslaundry asked Khalid about the events of October 8. “We raised only three kinds of slogans: ‘Free Palestine’, ‘Allah O Akbar’ and ‘Hindustan Zindabad’. We did not raise even a single slogan supporting Hamas. All we wanted to do through that protest was condemn war,” he said.

Why then did news channels claim the protest was in support of Hamas?

“We all know they operate under a framework,” Khalid said. He added that the coverage could have serious consequences for his future: “Tomorrow, if I apply for any job as an assistant researcher, everyone will question me about these allegations which are totally fake.”

Interestingly, Khalid, who was nominated faculty representative in the last students’ union in 2018, credited AMU for his interest in student activism. 

Khalid credits AMU for pushing him towards student activism.

“After I joined the university in 2014, I saw there are over 30,000 students on campus. They face many day-to-day issues related to hostel and faculty. So, when I started solving them, I became more interested in student politics,” he said. “After winning the election, I became more and more active in student politics and participated in all protests organised on campus.”

Khalid’s co-accused Naved Chaudhary is a second-year undergrad student in polymer science. The 24-year-old had taken a six-year break from studies before joining AMU in 2022.

Naved said he’s always been interested in student politics and so he participated in the pro-Palestine protest. 

“For several decades, Palestinians have been victims and their rights violated. Just because we support Palestinians does not mean we support Hamas,” he said. “In the past as well several such protests have taken place on campus against any oppression across the world.”

AMU students have previously organised protests on campus against the abrogation of Article 370, India’s citizenship laws, the disappearance of JNU student Najeeb, Egypt’s support of Israel, and fee hikes for foreign students.

Naved continued, “For us, it is not a big deal to hold protests. But statements by BJP leaders and media coverage of our protest calling our university a ‘terrorist adda’ is defamatory.” BJP’s Kapil Mishra and Harnath Singh had claimed the students were supporters of terrorism. 

Also named in the FIR is Atif Ahmed, 24, a second-year MBA student who previously got his bachelor’s in political science from the same university. He told Newslaundry the protest “was organised in a responsible manner”.

“At the start, we had informed students that no one must use any words that can hurt anyone’s sentiments,” he said. “So we did not even use the word Hamas. After the protest ended, we gave several media interviews and in them too, no such things were said. The charges in the FIR are false.”

He added, “We just wanted to mark our presence in support of Palestine. Our batchmates from non-Muslim backgrounds like Hindu, Christians and Jews were also part of this protest.”

Atif said he’s doing an MBA to earn well but his heart lies in politics. He wants to join politics someday because “with over 20 crore Muslims in the country, there are only four percent Muslim politicians”.

Newslaundry tried contacting Kamran several times but he was unavailable for comment at the time of publishing this report.

Students want AMU statement

After the FIR was lodged, a delegation of students met proctor Ali and AMU vice-chancellor Mohammed Gulrez asking the university to issue a statement supporting the students and condemning the media coverage. 

“We told the university they should issue a statement against the police’s action and media coverage defaming our university,” said Atif. “The students also suggested the university file a case against media channels and reporters deeming us terrorists. But until now, the university has not taken any action.”

But proctor Wasim Ali said it’s “not in our hands to issue statements against the police to tell them what they should be doing”.

“We can only cooperate with their investigation,” he said. “As far as issuing a statement against media coverage is concerned, we told our PRO to issue one. I don't know if it has been put out.”

Newslaundry asked this question of AMU’s PRO Omar Peerzada. He said he would “get back to us”.