NEW DELHI — A German student studying at an engineering institute in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu was reportedly sent back for participating in ongoing protests in India against the controversial citizenship law and police action on students, reported Xinhua news agency.
Jakob Lindenthal, pursuing a post-graduate study in physics at the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Madras under a student exchange programme, left for Germany on Monday after authorities asked him to leave India.
Photographs during protests in Chennai showed the 24-year-old student participating in protests.
It was not known whether it was IIT Madras or the federal government that decided to send Lindenthal back.
Massive protests broke out across India against the new citizenship law which aims at granting citizenship to illegal immigrants belonging to six religions – Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Parsi and Christianity – from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, it has kept out Muslim immigrants from applying for citizenship.
Opposition parties and civil society members in India criticise the law as contrary to secular principles enshrined in India’s constitution as it excludes Muslims.
At least 22 people were killed and many injured during protests over the citizenship law across the country.
–BERNAMA
