Polish student at Jadavpur University asked to leave India over anti-CAA protest

Kolkata: A Polish student pursuing his masters degree at Jadavpur University (JU) here has been asked to leave India by the Union Home Ministry, purportedly over his presence in a rally opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act, a teacher said on Sunday.

Kamil Siedcynski, now in the final semester of the comparative literature course, was slapped a notice by the local Foreigner Regional Registration Office (FRRO) – an arm of the Home Ministry – about a week ago, Partha Pratim Roy, General Secretary of the Jadavpur University Teachers Association, told IANS.

The FRRO ordered him to leave India within 15 days of receiving the notice for his involvement in “anti-government activities”, saying it amounted to a “visa violation”.

The notice did not, however, give any details of the “anti-government activities” he has participated in, but warned that he would be prosecuted under the Foreigners Act, 1946, if the deadline was not adhered to.

Roy said Siedcynski had been present during a rally organised in the Ramlila Maidan in the city by intellectuals, artists and students against CAA on December 19.

“Kamil appealed to the FRRO to reconsider its decision, saying he had gone to the rally out of curiousity and also to click images. But the officials here said they were helpless and the decision has been taken in Delhi,” Roy told IANS.

Siedcynski is likely to move the court on Monday against the order.

He earlier studied Bengali literature at Visva Bharati, a Central university, and can write and speak in the language fluently. He has also translated a Polish fairy tale into Bengali.

“He comes from a poor financial background. So the university has waived his fees. He is a very serious student and not associated with any student organisation,” said Roy.

Siedcynski was not available for comments.

The FRRO earlier issued a similar order against Afsara Anika Meem, a first year Bangladeshi undergraduate student at the Visva Bharati University’s Fine Arts department. Meem had posted on social media photos of an anti-CAA agitation.

Last December, two other foreign nationals – Jakob Lindenthal, a post graduate student at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras and Norwegian woman Janne Mette-Johannson received similar orders for taking part in protests against the law.

The CAA, passed by parliament in December, seeks to provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists who fled religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014.

By IANS