Didn’t shout slogans against any law, says Polish student

KOLKATA: Kamil Siedcznski, a Polish student at Jadavpur University (JU), who has been ordered to leave the country on charges of taking part in a rally against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), has written a letter, which HT has seen, to the Foreigner’s Regional Registration Office (FRRO), denying raising any slogan against any Indian law.

Siedcznski is a post-graduate student of comparative literature at JU, and his final semester is only a few months away. The FRRO has asked him to leave the country on or before March 10 as the notice served to him on February 24 set a 15-day deadline.

Siedcznski told the FRRO that he accompanied his friends from JU to a rally on January 21, but did not raise any slogan against any Indian law. He said he was only taking photographs and was misquoted by a section of the local media. Siedcznski said that three days before the January 19 rally, he attended a music concert at Park Circus (where a Shaheen Bagh-type agitation is on) as he loves Indian music.

Siedcznski added that at JU he was a bystander to an interaction between activists Umar Khalid and Yogendra Yadav and attended a film festival in the city, where writer-activist Arundhati Roy spoke against the CAA. Siedcznski has argued that he was present at all these events as a passive observer. The notice served to Siedcznski was signed by foreigner’s regional registration officer of Kolkata, Karma Tshering Bhutia.

JU vice-chancellor (V-C) Suranjan Das was out of town and could not be contacted. “If the government does not listen to Siedcznski’s appeal we will request the V-C to make some special arrangement so that he can appear for the final examination from Poland,” said Partha Pratim Roy, general secretary, JU Teachers’ Association.

Siedcznski has been living in India since 2016 on a student visa. The visa was extended till August 31 to allow him to obtain his postgraduate degree.

“We only follow orders from the ministry. There is nothing we can do,” said an officer at FRRO, Kolkata, on condition of anonymity.