Bollywood celebs extend support to Jamia students, condemn police crackdown

Mumbai/New Delhi: Students, activists and prominent personalities from across the country have expressed solidarity with the students of Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University following Sunday evening clashes with the Delhi Police during the anti-Citizenship Act protests. As videos from the violence at Jamia were circulated on social media, several Bollywood celebrities took to Twitter to raise their voices against the police violence.

Actor Parineeti Chopra said it was "barbaric" to beat up "innocent human beings for speaking their mind". Filmmaker Vishal Bharadwaj tweeted: "My heart pains for the students of Jamia. Don't Be Silent, Don't Be Violent." Richa Chadha also said she stood in solidarity with the "students of India".

"Have faith in democracy," actor Ayushmann Khurrana tweeted while he also condemned the police crackdown on students. Bhumi Pednekar tweeted saying she was "shocked seeing how the protest turned violent" and urged people to keep their faith in democracy alive. In a separate tweet, she said: "What the students faced has shaken me and my heart goes out to them."

'Uri' hero Vicky Kaushal tweeted: "What is happening is not okay. The way it's happening is not okay. People have every right to peacefully voice their opinion. This violence and disruption is both saddening and concerning as a fellow citizen. In no circumstance, must our faith in democracy be shaken."

Actor Siddharth Malhotra, who is from Delhi and have studied in the national Capital, tweeted: "My heart goes out to all the students back home in Delhi."

Dia Mirza also expressed her support and tweeted: "The student protests across the country is a tipping point in our democracy. Seeing videos of peacefully protesting students being dragged and beaten up is a visual that will be hard to forget. In fact, one that we should not forget."

Filmmaker Anurag Kashyap was among the first people from the film industry to speak up on December 16, following the police crackdown on students at Jamia. "This has gone too far... (I) can't stay silent any longer. This government is clearly fascist... and it makes me angry to see voices that can actually make a difference stay quiet.." he tweeted. "We are with the students! Shame on you @DelhiPolice," said actor-filmmaker Konkona Sensharma.

The ripple effect of protests on campuses across the country reached top educational institutions in the world including Oxford, Harvard and Yale and MIT. Over 400 students from different US universities have issued a joint statement, condemning the "brutal police violence unleashed against students at Jamia and AMU as a gross violation of human rights under the Constitution of India and international human rights law". With agency inputs