December 20th, 2019

Statement in solidarity with student protestors in India

The Graduate Students’ Association at Carleton University stands in

solidarity with student protestors in India, and strongly condemns the police
brutality in response to the peaceful protests.
!

Graduate Students’
 Since the enactment of the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act
Association (CAA) in India, many students have undertaken protests across the
country. The contested CAA allows for six religious minorities, including
Local 78, Canadian Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Christian and Hindu refugees who are coming
Federation of from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, to be granted citizenship status
Students in India. It specifically leaves out Muslims coming from these countries.
This is not only an act of deliberate Islamophobia but allows for citizenship
600 Unicentre to be based on faith. The CAA violates Article 14, Article 21 and Article 15
Carleton University
of the Indian Constitution.
1125 Colonel By Drive
Unceded Algonquin
Territory K1S 5B6 Law enforcement officers have entered several universities and have
violently hurt protestors, using mechanisms such as sheer force, tear gas
tel (613) 520-6616 and wooden sticks. Many students have been assaulted and detained, and
fax (613) 520-3680 have been forced out of their campus residences. Such action is an attempt
gsa@gsacarleton.ca to suppress dissent and is an attack on the autonomy of the universities
gsacarleton.ca and on collective student power. Two protestors died in Mangaluru
yesterday, and 1 in Lucknow.

This form of police brutality violates the right to peaceful assembly and
freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution of
India and international law instruments to which India is a state party. The
government is currently imposing Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure
Code of India that authorizes criminalization of assembly to stop peaceful
protests, which was used by the British in 1942 against the Quit India
Movement. We emphasize that academic institutions are arenas of
discussion, debate and dissent, and the ultimate objective of universities is
to speak truth to power. By using force against the students, the
government has struck at the heart of the culture of protests.

Actions taken by India’s state and law enforcement agencies is an attack

on academic institutions and is a consistent effort to undermine dissent by
state institutions. As a part of international condemnation, The Graduate
Students’ Association would like to draw attention to this ongoing issue and
appeal to everyone to stand in solidarity to resist the ongoing erosion of the
rule of law, constitutionalism and religious harmony. 



In solidarity,

Graduate Students’ Association

Carleton University