Chennai, Dec 24: A German student at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has said he was asked to leave India for protesting against the new citizenship law that has sparked unrest across the country.
During a protest in Chennai last week, Jakob Lindenthal had carried a poster that made a reference to the Nazi rule in his own country: “1933 to 1945 – we have been there”.
Lindenthal had a semester left of his post-graduation in Physics and he was scheduled to leave India in May 2020.
Lindenthal told news organisations IIT-Madras and immigration officials asked him to leave Chennai on Monday. “There were apparently administration issues with my visa. After ruling these out, I was extensively questioned by the immigration officer about my political opinions. Then I was informed about the decision (asking him to leave),” he was quoted by News18.com as saying.
He added that he would consult his lawyer and decide the next course of action.
According to one of Jakob’s friends, who was quoted by TheNewsMinute.com, “Jakob was called by his co-ordinator at IIT and he was told that there was an issue with his residence permit and he had to go to the immigration department. Later, he told us that an officer spoke to him about the permit and then casually asked what his opinion was on the anti-CAA protest. When Jakob made his opposition clear, the officer told him that he disagreed. Jakob was asked to wait outside. He was called back and told to leave India immediately."
Speaking to Indian Express from the airport, Jakob was quoted as saying, “I do love the IIT-M campus, I love India but I am concerned about illiberal extremes in the country… In Germany, nobody is ever evicted for participating in a legal demonstration.”
A students' body, ChintaBar, tweeted in solidarity with Lindenthal. "ChintaBAR extends solidarity and gratitude to Jakob Lindenthal, for being part of struggles to protect the rights of people in this country and his concern for humanity," they tweeted.
Reports said a foreigner participating in a political activity or protest is a violation of visa norms.
The kidnapped schoolboy was rescued by the police and reunited with his parents. Son of a gift shop owner from Basavanagudi area in Bengaluru, Chirag has reportedly told police that decided to make some quick money to spend on cricket betting and gambling after learning kidnap tricks from the ‘Crime Patrol’. According to police, Chirag reached a private school around 3pm on Tuesday on a Bounce rental bike and zeroed in on a fourth standard student who was walking out of school. He told the boy he was his father's friend and that he required help to search for a relative who had gone missing. The boy believed Chirag and rode pillion on the bike. Chirag then engaged the boy in conversation and learnt about his father's business and got his mobile phone number. He then made a call to the boy's father, demanded Rs 5 lakh and warned him against approaching cops. However, the boy's father alerted Cottonpet police and special teams were formed to crack the case. While Cottonpet inspector Venkatesh TC's squad verified CCTV footage in and around the school, Chamarajpet inspector BG Kumaraswamy's team started tracking the suspect's mobile phone movements. An hour later, the suspect's location was traced to a hotel on the Lavelle Road-St Mark's Road stretch. Police rushed there, rescued the boy and arrested Chirag.
Comments
Great sulute to this germany guy.... we have more gaddar people in orange dress then green dress...jai hind
Add new comment