Nine TISS Students & Their Lives After a GN Saibaba Tribute: FIR, Fear & Derailed Careers
Alisha Dutta | 24 August 2026 | The Print
“I had to accept a job in a different sector far away from my research interest and specialisation, only because I would not get a clearance certificate from the police owing to the FIR against me.” It’s common practice for firms and organisations to run a background check, including police verification, on candidates for jobs.
The FIR registered by Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch, days after the event last year, named Nikita Monica D’Souza, Utkarsh Khuntia, Yash Kaundilya, Avantika, Ishpreet Kaur, Hardika Bhagat, Satyam Yadav, Abhirup Paul and Kamakhya Prasad Das. While seven of the former and current students were granted anticipatory bail earlier this month after multiple rounds of interrogation and hearings, Paul and Das were denied.
It has been alleged that slogans were raised at the event in support of jailed student leaders Sharjeel Imam and Umar Khalid. The Mumbai Sessions Court noted that instead of the customary phrase ‘Rest in Peace’, the students used ‘Rest in Power (1967–Forever)’, and this alone is not a criminal offence. But, it said, when combined with recovery of objectionable material from Paul and Das’s devices—including downloaded Maoist books, deleted files and WhatsApp chats suggesting ‘field work’—it raised doubts about their conduct and suggested ideological influence towards banned organisations.