Sharda University clashes: NSA to be invoked against right wing activist booked for instigating students

A right wing activist has been booked by police for allegedly instigating the Indian students of a Greater Noida varsity against Afghan students following a brawl between the two groups in the campus.

Taking cognizance of the sporadic violence at Sharda University between two groups of students, the Gautam Budh Nagar administration on Friday asked the police to arrest Deepak Sharma, a right wing Hindu activist, and invoke the National Security Act (NSA) against him for allegedly instigating Indian students against Afghan students.

District magistrate BN Singh asked the Noida police to lodge a First Information Report against Sharma, arrest him and invoke the NSA against him to deny him bail, after he met with the students and administration of Sharda University on Friday morning.

“We are all aware that India shares a deep bond with Afghanistan. A few videos have revealed that certain elements wish to destroy this bond with their inflammatory comments. Deepak Sharma’s language shows that he is trying to disrupt the peaceful and tolerant ethos of the society with his acts. Therefore, the police has been asked to lodge an FIR against him under relevant sections, arrest him and invoke the NSA against him,” Singh said.

Sharma had arrived at Sharda University campus on Tuesday allegedly to instigate Indian students against Afghan students, a day after a brawl took place between them in the campus. Sporadic violence occurred in the campus on Thursday — hundreds of students created ruckus, demanding the expulsion of Afghan students, and a mob roughed up a Kashmiri student, mistaking him for an Afghan.

It all started on Monday when a brawl broke out between Indian and Afghan students over a “trivial matter”. A video purportedly showed an Indian student hurling expletives at an Afghan student, who then roughed him up. Soon, multiple videos emerged on social media which showed the two groups engaging in a face-off. Taking cognizance of the videos, the university management suspended three Afghan students and sent show cause notices to 10 Indian students.

Sharma posted live videos of his visit to the institute in Greater Noida, in which he could be seen addressing the students and using inflammatory words. Sharma had gained internet fame in 2017 when he had allegedly assaulted a person who had posted a meme about him.

Taking cognizance of the district magistrate’s directive, the police booked Sharma under the Indian Penal Code Section 153 for provoking a riot and Section 66 of the IT Act.

“We have booked two persons, Deepak Sharma and Ved Nagar, under relevant sections. Both do not belong to Sharda University,” Arvind Pathak, station house officer, Knowledge park police station, said .

“Invoking the NSA is a long procedure. One FIR was registered yesterday and one today. Invoking the NSA against him was a suggestion from the district magistrate. We will look into it,” senior superintendent of police, Ajay Pal Sharma, said.