159 students forced to offer namaz at NCC camp: Eight, including 7 teachers, booked in Chhattisgarh

BILASPUR: Eight persons, including seven teachers, were booked on Saturday for allegedly forcing some students of Guru Ghasidas Central University to offer namaz during an NCC camp in Chhattigarh's Bilaspur district, a police official said.

They forced 159 students to offer namaz during the camp held between March 26 to April 1 in Shivtarai village under Kota police station limits, though only four among them were Muslims, he said. A probe was instituted after students came back and protested, following which right wing outfits too agitated seeking action against those responsible, the official said.

"The incident took place on March 31. Bilaspur Senior Superintendent of Police Rajnesh Singh had constituted a four member committee under City Superintendent of Police (Kotwali) Akshay Sabadra to investigate the matter. The case was lodged on Saturday after the investigation report was submitted to the SSP," he said.

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A case was registered against Dilip Jha, Madhulika Singh, Jyoti Verma, Neeraj Kumari, Prashant Vaishnav, Suryabhan Singh and Basant Kumar, who are teachers at Guru Ghasidas Central University, and team core leader-cum-student Ayushman Chaudhary under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 196 (b), 197 (1) (b) (c), 299, 302, 190 of BNS and section 4 of Chhattisgarh Religious Freedom Act, the official said.

The case was registered at Koni police station and the case diary has been sent to Kota police station for further investigation, he added.