Deportation of Bangladeshi Student: Visva Bharati teachers, students offer legal aid
A section of teachers and students of Visva Bharati University has offered legal assistance to the Bangladeshi student who was asked to leave India for her alleged involvement in "anti-government activities".
Afsara Anika Meem, 20, a first-year student of design at the university's fine arts department, was served a "Leave India Notice" by Kolkata-based Foreigners' Regional Registration Office (FRRO).
Meem on Wednesday received the notice that was dated February 14, said one of her friends.
A Calcutta High Court lawyer on Friday said Meem's friends approached him to take up the case.
"I had a conversation with Meem on Thursday after some of her friends called me up and handed over the phone to her. But nothing has been finalised yet. It is her decision," the lawyer said, requesting anonymity.
A leader of the Students' Federation of India (SFI), the frontal wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said two leading lawyers of the high court had agreed to take up the case of Meem, who has been subjected to "gross injustice".
It is understood that one of the leading lawyers is a former mayor of Kolkata and a prominent CPI(M) leader.
Hailing from Kushtia, Meem enrolled at the university in 2018.
The notice said, "... She is found to have engaged in anti-government activities. And such activity being a breach of her visa, has thus, committed visa violation.... The foreigner shall not remain in India, shall depart from India within 15 days of receipt of this order."
It, however, did not specify the nature of the "anti-India activities" she was involved in.
Meem allegedly shared some posts related to the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act on her Facebook account, an SFI member said.
The SFI claimed that Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students' wing of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, had complained against Meem to Visva Bharati authorities. The ABVP, however, has dismissed the charge.
"We have always maintained that foreign nationals studying in India should not interfere in the affairs of this country. But, we have never singled out Meem," Shyamasree Karmakar of ABVP said.
Comments