A professor from a university in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district was arrested Thursday for allegedly asking 155 students to offer namaz on Eid during a National Service Scheme (NSS) camp.
Additional SP Archana Jha said police produced Dilip Jha, a professor at Guru Ghasidas Central University, before a magistrate court in Bilaspur seeking judicial custody. The court granted the professor bail.
The university’s media cell declined to comment on the matter. Some university students, backed by right-wing groups, had complained to police that they were made to offer namaz at Shivtarai village on March 31 during the one-week camp.
“As part of the camp the students are made to do different activities like yoga. That day it was Eid, so some Muslim students were offering namaz in a school ground and other students were also asked to offer namaz with them. But the issue was that the professors did not ask for the consent of the students,” said an officer from Kota police station.
Sumit Kumar, in-charge of Kota police station, said: “The FIR was registered by Koni police and was transferred to Kota police station as the incident occurred here.”
Besides Jha, the case was registered against the NSS coordinator, six professors, a team leader and a student.
They were booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 196 (b) (promoting enmity between groups), 197 (1) (b) (c) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration), 299 (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 302 (uttering words, etc with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings) and 190 (unlawful assembly).
