Overview
- A silent public reading at Vastrapur/AUDA Garden was confronted by a group that claimed affiliation with the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and the confrontation turned violent when the readers were leaving the park.
- Vastrapur police registered an FIR under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for rioting, unlawful assembly and voluntarily causing hurt and arrested three suspects while identifying several more accused.
- Official records say two people were injured and treated at Sola Civil Hospital, but organisers and participants report a higher number of hurt people and have produced medical certificates and video footage that police are examining.
- The reading was organised in protest of Anand Niketan School’s decision to remove or make optional I Am Malala and The Diary of a Young Girl after earlier parental and right-wing objections, and organisers say the session included other books to underline the principle of reading freedom.
- Coverage highlights a wider pattern of right-wing groups contesting school content, with some outlets emphasising arrests and police action and others foregrounding organiser claims of a planned attack and the risk to civic protest and educational autonomy.