Student-activist slapped with sedition charge untraceable

Urvashi's mother Reena Chudawala at the Azad Maidan police station. Pic/Suresh Karkera

The media and culture student from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Urvashi Chudawala, who was booked under sedition charges for sloganeering in support of Sharjeel Imam (he was recently held for sedition), is untraceable. On Tuesday, her mother told the Azad Maidan police that she was being provoked by someone, and even the family is looking for her.

The Azad Maidan police have launched a manhunt after Chudawala, who is also an LGBT activist, did not respond to police summons. "Before registering the FIR we reached out to the TISS management and collected her details as she is a student there for the past one year. We were informed by the management that she has not been coming to the campus for the past two days. We had called her to record her statement and listen to her version, but she didn't respond to calls and after sometime her number was switched off. Later her mother was summoned," a senior police officer told mid-day.

'She is being provoked'
Her mother, Reena Chudawala, was at Azad Maidan police station for more than an hour on Tuesday. She told the cops that she is also trying to contact Chudawala and didn't know why she raised such slogans. "She didn't have such intentions. Somebody has provoked her. I am also looking for her. I will ask her to cooperate with the police," Chudawala's mother told the media while leaving Azad Maidan police station.

According to police, they have verified the video in which Chudawala is seen saying, 'Sharjeel tere sapnon ko manzil tak pahuchayenge.' "We took legal opinion and then reached out to her. But she wasn't available for comment. A case of sedition was registered against her and now four teams are looking for her," the officer said.

Posts under scanner
"Apart from the sloganeering, there are a number of social media posts by her supporting Imam, which have also been considered before registering a FIR against her," the officer added.

The 50 others seen in the video are yet to be identified. The police have appealed to people to reach out to them regarding their identity.

According to the police, Chudawala last contacted her mother and said that she was with some of her friends and then switched off her phone. "We suspect that she has been kept hidden by some of her friends," another police officer said.

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