Hyderabad: A student of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) was booked and briefly held by the Gachibowli Police for allegedly uploading an offensive statement on Lord Ram as his WhatsApp status.
Srijan, the accused, is a member of the All India Students Association (AISA). Sources close to him said the images were doctored to frame him. The AISA, in response, condemned the varsity for not dealing with the issue through its internal mechanisms and for forwarding it to the police.
In a statement, AISA condemned the action taken against Srijan and the UoH administration and its Registrar for “converting” a proctorial enquiry into a criminal case. It has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the police complaint and a transparent inquiry into the fabrication of digital evidence. It also called on the UoH administration to take full accountability for this “grave overreach” and to also issue a public apology for subjecting a student to criminal prosecution “without exhausting and honouring the university’s own due process.”
‘Deeply authoritarian’
The organisation said that the issue reflects a “deeply authoritarian” and politically partisan mindset in campus. “Srijan, an AISA activist, has been booked under Sections 196, 299, and 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) on the basis of allegedly doctored screenshots: material whose authenticity was explicitly challenged during the university’s own proctorial inquiry,” it stated.
According to AISA, the genesis of the incident was a verbal disagreement within a class WhatsApp group between students of radically opposite political ideologies. Srijan reportedly appeared before the proctorial board and clearly told the administration that the screenshots circulating in his name that showed vulgar remarks about Lord Ram were fabricated.
“Instead of verifying the digital evidence or allowing its own disciplinary mechanism to reach a conclusion, the administration chose to forward the matter to the police. This is not procedural caution; it is an abdication of institutional responsibility. The nature of the doctored content is itself telling. It was crafted to provoke outrage and trigger charges relating to religious insult in a climate where right-wing ideological dominance increasingly shapes institutional reflexes,” said AISA on the matter.
UoH student booked without verifying info: AISA
The student body said that Srijan was booked by the police without verifying whether the images were doctored or not. “Whoever fabricated these screenshots did so with the confidence that the administration would prioritise managing perceptions of sacrilege over investigating the truth. That confidence has now been vindicated,” it added.
“This escalation reflects a police-state mentality entering academic space: disagreement is treated as disorder, allegation as guilt, and dissent as criminality. When administrations become more concerned with signalling ideological alignment than with upholding due process, universities cease to function as spaces of critical inquiry and instead become sites of surveillance and intimidation. By criminalising Srijan on contested and unverified grounds, the administration has sent a chilling message that dissenting political affiliation invites state action rather than dialogue,” it stated.
A source close to the accused student said there is a threat Srijan is facing from right-wing groups on campus. According to the source, Srijan has been booked under sections 196, 299 and 352 (promoting enmity, hurting religious sentiments and breach of peace).
