The vandalism and violence by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) against a proposed discussion on February 24, 2026, by “Spark”, an informal student reading group of Azim Premji University (APU), Bangalore, are symptomatic of the increasing repression in campuses across the country, where dissent is criminalised and free debate and discussion is shut down. The proposed discussion was on the anniversary of the mass rapes in Kunan Poshpora in 1991.

On February 24, around 25 members of the ABVP, the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) vandalised the “Kabira” space, a designated location for cultural activities in the Sarjapur campus of the university and the venue of a discussion on Kunan Poshpora by the Spark Reading Group. They tore down posters and assaulted a student and a member of the university’s security staff.

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