Tension prevailed on the Panjab University (PU) campus on Friday as left-leaning Students For Society (SFS) activists staged a demonstration after they were denied permission by the authorities to organise a seminar.
SFS had proposed a seminar on the campus on Friday which was to be addressed by human rights activist and journalist Seema Azad.
She, along with her husband, was arrested by the UP Police in 2010 after being charged with sedition for alleged Maoist links. They were later released on bail. Even as Seema was not allowed for the event, police took SFS president Damanpreet Singh into preventive custody so as to maintain law and order on the campus.
However, SFS activists staged a protest outside the office of Vice Chancellor, demanding they should be allowed to hold the event which was to be addressed by Seema, party members Arshdeep Singh said, adding police should immediately release Damanpreet. The SFS activists threatened to hold the event outside the office of the Vice Chancellor even as rival ABVP opposed.
On Thursday, activists of ABVP had staged a Tiranga Yatra on the campus against the SFS for allegedly including Naxalite extremists in the audience. "We will not allow Seema to enter the university," ABVP member Harmanjot Singh Gill said.