'You dare demand Modi's resignation?': Bengaluru student alleges ABVP-linked assault

Follow TNM's WhatsApp channel for news updates and story links.A student affiliated with the All India Students Association (AISA) has alleged that he was assaulted by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Bengaluru’s Jalahalli area after participating in recent student protests. Police have registered an FIR against four unidentified persons and are investigating the incident.According to the complaint filed at Jalahalli Police Station, 19-year-old Aman Deep Singh from Punjab was walking home after dinner on the night of July 28 when two motorcycles carrying four masked men allegedly blocked his path on the BEL Circle service road. According to a statement from AISA, the men asked him to identify himself before saying, ‘You dare to demand the resignation of Modi?’ before allegedly hitting his leg with a wooden log and riding off towards MES Road. Aman Deep's injury was serious enough to require a cast. The FIR has been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections for causing grievous hurt by dangerous means, wrongful restraint, intentional insult, and common intention. CCTV footage from the area is being reviewed. No arrests have been made yet, and the police have not confirmed a motive. In a press statement on July 30, AISA said its member was attacked by “suspected goons” from the ABVP. It called the assault a direct response to Aman Deep’s participation in the Freedom Park protests, which started over the NEET paper leak and have since grown to include demands for Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation. In its statement, the organisation said the assault reflected a broader pattern of intimidation on university campuses, referring to the February violence at Azim Premji University, where police booked 25 ABVP members after they entered the campus, vandalised property and allegedly assaulted security guards and a student during protests over a discussion on Kashmir. AISA’s statement also pointed to an earlier incident at the same protest site, alleging that police tore down a poster that “directly called out the BJP’s fascist onslaught” and booked the person holding it. The FIR from that day, filed on July 24 at Upparpet Police Station, was over posters referencing jailed activist Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, both accused in the 2020 Delhi riots case. Reporting by TNM from the same protest found that police also removed a trans rights placard and took away a football bearing Modi’s image, while leaving posters criticising the BJP government and calling for Pradhan’s resignation untouched.This article was written by a student interning with TNM.