Jamia Millia Islamia University student Shaheen Abdulla, who went viral on last month when clashes broke out between police and students at the varsity, was picked up and later released by the police in Uttar Pradesh, where he was covering a protest in the Shahjamal area of Aligarh, his friends confirmed to The Quint on Thursday, 23 January.
Earlier, lot of people posted his photo on Twitter with the hashtag #ReleaseShaheenAbdullah and #WhereIsShaheen.
Minutes before he was taken by the police to Aligarh’s Delhi Gate station, Abdullah posted a live on Facebook which captured his conversation with the police.
In the video, he is asked about his whereabouts, to which he replies that he is a student of Jamia and hails from Kerala.
A cop is heard saying, “Are you concerned with studying or with engaging in politics? If you are doing journalism, why are you doing journalism here?”
‘Realised My Privilege’
Hours after his release, Abdulla posted on Facebook, “Yesterday, in Sambhal, we met families of minors who are still in jail with no charges. The families got to know about their whereabouts after three days. All it took was four hours for me to realise the dynamics of being privileged. Thank you everyone for prayer and effort.”
Further, he even posted a review of his detention on Facebook.
Abdulla Went to Cover a ‘Shaheen Bagh-Like Protest’
Sharjeel Usmani, a student activist at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), spoke about Abdulla’s detention: “He went to cover a Shaheen Bagh-like protest in the Shahjamal area. The police saw him making videos and asked him about his whereabouts, following which Abdulla showed them his ID card. Then when the guy who was with him left for a bit, the police picked him up immediately.”
“First, they took him to Upper Court police station, but because that is a Muslim-majority neighbourhood, they shifted him to a Hindu-majority one, only so that no one can build a pressure on the issue,” Umani said.
Usmani stated that Abdulla is currently working for an online platform, Maktoob media.
‘I am Fine,’ Says Abdulla
Hours later, Abdullah posted a story on WhatsApp which read, “I am fine.”
Upon his release being confirmed, he also posted a photo of him along with a friend.
Abdulla became a known face after a video of him and two other students — Ayesha Renna and Ladeeda Farzana — went viral when the protests against CAA at Jamia on 15 December 2019 snowballed into violent clashes.
Speaking on Abdulla’s detention, Farzana said, “Abdulla is in his final year of journalism and he went there to shoot a documentary on the conditions in Uttar Pradesh in the face of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).”
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