The Mumbai police arrested a former student of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) on the night of Friday, August 7, shortly after a Sessions Court refused to grant him pre-arrest bail.
The police arrested 32-year-old Abhirup Paul in Chembur in connection with an FIR filed by the institute over a 2025 memorial event held for late Delhi University professor GN Saibaba, who died on October 12, 2024, shortly after his acquittal in a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Saibaba’s death was attributed to the severe deterioration of his health during the prolonged incarceration.
Of the nine students booked in the case, two — Kamakhya Prasad Das, 23, from Assam, and Abhirup Paul, 32 — were denied pre-arrest bail by the Mumbai Sessions Court, which said they had failed to show “respect for the law of the land”.
While Abhirup has been arrested, Kamakhya Prasad is yet to be taken into custody, police said, according to The Indian Express. The police reportedly sought 10 days of custody for Abhirup, but the court granted custody until Monday, August 10.
The Trombay police filed an FIR in October 2025 naming nine people in the case following a complaint by the TISS associate dean for organising a gathering to pay homage to Saibaba at the Deonar campus on October 12, 2025, without obtaining permission to do so.
The police had booked the students under provisions relating to promoting enmity between religious, caste or community groups, making statements prejudicial to national integration, and unlawful assembly.
In a controversial order, Additional Sessions Judge VB Bohra rejected the bail pleas of Kamakhya Prasad and Abhirup, citing their alleged failure to show respect for the law. The court also noted allegations that the students raised slogans seeking the release of jailed student activists Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.
“Being students, it was expected from accused persons to respect the law of the land,” the judge was quoted as saying by The Wire.
The judge observed that while paying homage to Saibaba was not illegal, the event allegedly went beyond that. “The act of accused persons appeared to be not limited to paying him homage. They even allegedly raised slogans in the nature of releasing Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam from jail, who are facing trial for an offence under UAPA, that is, unlawful activities against the Nation,” the judge said, according to The Indian Express.
The prosecution also argued that Kamakhya Prasad and Abhirup had downloaded books allegedly authored by members of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist).
The court observed that the act of downloading literature showed that “they are allegedly inspired by the thinking or ideology of Maoists.”