In a latest episode of clampdown on a growing trend in the universities to screen BBC's documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Delhi police have on Friday detained 24 students from Delhi University for planning to screen the documentary in the campus. 

The detained students belong to the Arts department of the varsity and when they announced about the screening, the authorities of the university addressed to the Delhi police that the students are planning to screen the documentary on Modi without seeking appropriate permission from the varsity. Based on the information from the university, the Delhi police deployed a heavy police personnel at the north campus.

The police asked the students to disperse from the north campus and not to screen the documentary. However, as they went with their plan, the police detained 24 students. Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), Sagar Singh Kalsi said, "Around 4 pm (on Friday), some 20 people came outside the Arts Faculty gate to screen the banned BBC documentary. As it can cause disturbance of peace and tranquility in the area, they were asked to disperse from there." 

"When they didn't, they were peacefully detained. A total of 24 people were detained", Kalsi added. It has become the latest crackdown on the students for screening the BBC documentary. A team of Delhi police had also entered the Ambedkar University campus to stop Students' Federation of India (SFI) activists from screening the controversial documentary. The police are also visiting every college and university campus in Delhi to ensure peace and tranquility. 

As the screening was stopped in the Ambedkar University, the SFI activists have circulated a QR code with the link to the documentary to the students so that they can watch it on their personal devices. Earlier, top varsities like Jawarharlal Nehru University (JNU) and Jamia Millia Islamia University have witnessed protests over the screening of the documentary.  

On Thursday, when the left-wing SFI had screened the documentary at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU), the students who belong to ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarti Parishad), the students' wing of BJP's parent body RSS, have countered the screening of the documentary by organizing the screening of 'The Kashmir Files' on the HCU campus. The controversial 'The Kashmir Files' was a Bollywood film that narrates the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir after the killings of people from the community by terrorists backed by Pakistan. 

The SFI at the HCU said that over 400 students turned out for the screening rejecting the false propaganda and the attempts of ABVP to create unrest and the administration to disrupt the screening of the documentary. In Kolkata, the SFI at Jadavpur University had screened the BBC documentary on Thursday and the Kerala Congress Committee had held screenings of the documentary at the Shanghumugam beach in Thiruvananthapuram for the general public and the party has announced that it will organize several such screenings across the state.

Must-read: BBC's Modi documentary vs The Kashmir Files: The screening scuffle between students at top varsity!