5 Students Arrested For Graffiti Against Citizenship Act In Vadodara

Five students of the Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly making objectionable graffiti, which included the word "Modi", to protest the new Citizenship Act, the police said.

The students, from the university's Fine Arts faculty, made the "swastika" sign with black spray colour in place of "o" in the word "Modi", a police official said.

The students selected places like the police headquarters, Kala Ghoda Circle, wall of Fatehgunj pavilion and the wall of a hostel near Rosary School to make the graffiti in order to attract attention of the public, senior police officer Sandeep Chaudhary said.

The wrote "no CAB Modi" and made the "swastika" sign in place of "o" in the word "Modi", the police said.

"They used slogans with certain symbols in their graffiti to intentionally hurt religious sentiments of a particular community and affect public peace and cause riots against members of a community. They also damaged public property," a release issued by the police said.

Those arrested were identified as Pulkit Gandhi, 20, Rajat Vyas, 19, Ruchir Nair, 21, Aryan Sharma, 24, and Ayajin Jonson, 23, Mr Chaudhary said. Two others, identified as Renil and Rishi Nair, were absconding, he said. Search was underway for two other students, who were absconding, the police added.

The seven accused got together and discussed about protests taking place in different parts of the country against the Citizenship Act, and decided "to have an effect of the protest in Vadodara as well", he said.

"Therefore, they decided to make the graffiti with slogans and symbols using colour spray so that people here also get provoked to protest against the new citizenship law," he said.

"We examined the CCTV footage to arrest the accused after registering an FIR," Mr Chaudhary said.

The First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the accused on Monday for "using provocative and humiliating words" to hurt sentiments of people from one community and cause violence, and also damaging public property, he said.

The accused were charged under various sections of IPC and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, the police added.