Maha: Varsity cites poll code, expels six for writing to PM

The Congress on Saturday complained to Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) against the recent "expulsion" of six students by a university citing the model code of conduct after they wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over certain "social problems" in society. The Congress also sought to know under what right the Mahatma Gandhi International Hindi University (MGIHU), based in Wardha in east Maharashtra, took suo moto (on its own) action against the students citing the code of conduct which has been in force for the October 21 Assembly polls.

The students were expelled on October 9. The Congress asked the CEO to take action against the varsity officials stressing that the students, belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities, neither represent any political party nor further any political agenda.

The opposition party further said the action was a serious offence by authorities as a university is supposed to encourage free exchange of thoughts and freedom of expression. "Their crime was that many students were writing letters to the prime minister with a desire to bring to his notice social problems currently faced by our society.

"The action also indicates the partisan approach by the university because only six SC and OBC students were singled out for action," a Congress delegation, led by its Maharashtra unit general secretary Sachin Sawant, said in a letter to the CEO. The Congress said it was "very disturbing" to see that a government institution was taking law into its own hands "without any authority".

Recently, a number of celebrities from various fields of life were charged with alleged sedition for writing a letter to the prime minister over growing incidents of mob lynchings and intolerance in the country on the basis of a complaint lodged by a lawyer in Bihar. The FIR was, however, quashed by the police..

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