CAA: Polish Student Who Was Asked To Leave India Moves Calcutta High Court

A Polish student at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University, who was asked to leave the country for participating in a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, has now approached the Calcutta High Court. 

The Indian Express reported that Kamil Siedczynski, a post-graduate comparative literature student, filed a writ petition with the high court saying he did not directly participate in any movement against the Indian government.

Siedczynski was served a notice, dated February 14, by the Foreigner Regional Registration Office. 

PTI reported that the student approached the high court asking it to restrain authorities from giving effect to the notice. 

It had asked him to leave the country within 15 days.

The student’s lawyer, Jayanta Mitra told the court that Siedczynski was in the last semester and that his exams were due in August. 

Mitra told the court that he had “unwittingly and out of curiosity” gone to a peaceful protest in Kolkata’s New Market area after he was persuaded by his friends. 

PTI reported that Mitra submitted that it is not in consonance with India’s obligations and is in derogation from the principles enunciated under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966), which are applicable to all people.

Siedczynski is from Szczecin in Poland. He has been studying in India from 2016 and also holds a post-graduate diploma in Bengali literature from the Visva-Bharati university.