• Police detain 24 students at Delhi University.
• Confiscate laptops and ban gatherings of more than four.
• Students were viewing documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Indian police in the Indian city of New Delhi have detained numerous students, in response to the broadcast of a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suspected involvement in the deadly Gujarat sectarian riots in 2002,

After student organizations affiliated with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) protested the screening, police descended on Delhi University, confiscating laptops and forbidding gatherings of more than four persons.

24 students were held, according to police officer Sagar Singh Kalsi, who spoke with the Indian news outlet.

The federal government utilized its emergency powers earlier this week to prevent the documentary’s airing and forbid its dissemination on social media.

Many links to the documentary were removed by Twitter and YouTube after they responded with the request.

Students gathered to view the documentary on laptops and phones at Delhi University and on multiple other campuses throughout India, ignoring official attempts to halt the film’s transmission.

According to the two-part documentary, Modi instructed police to ignore deadly riots while he was Gujarat state’s chief minister.

The unrest started after a train fire claimed the lives of 59 Hindu pilgrims. In connection with that incident, 31 Muslims were found guilty of murder and criminal conspiracy.

In the ensuing rioting, about 2,000 people, predominantly Muslims, were slain.

The violence was “politically driven,” according to a report from the British foreign ministry that was previously classified, and its goal was “to cleanse Muslims from Hindu areas,” according to the documentary.

The report asserts that Modi’s administration’s “environment of impunity” is what made the riots possible.

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