A group of vandals barged into the campus of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune on Tuesday, shouted “Jai Shri Ram” and allegedly assaulted students who were protesting the rise of communalism in the country.

On Monday night, a group of FTII students had arranged the screening of Anand Patwardhan’s documentary Ram Ke Naam, which traces the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.

According to a media release issued by the FTII Students Association (FTIISA), around 25 people entered the campus at 1.30pm on Tuesday, started chanting “Jai Shri Ram” and hurled abuses at the students.

FTIISA president Mankap Nokwoham, secretary Sayantan and some female students were allegedly beaten up. Mankap sustained multiple bruises. The security guards allegedly stood silent as the mob continued its rampage on the campus and reached the “wisdom tree”. Once police arrived, the mob started to disengage and the security guards took them back to the main gate. The cops allowed them to go.

“Innocent students were grievously attacked by these goons who barged into our campus while the security and staff were mere spectators. It is a blatant attack on the fundamental right to life of the students and a grave failure of law and order. FTII Students Association strongly stands against such a dire attack on our democratic rights as well as the lives of students,” said the media statement.

Patwardhan told The Telegraph that the Right-wing forces were attacking students on campuses where his documentary was being screened.

“In the last two days, there have been three incidents of attacks on students and organisers for screening the film Ram Ke Naam. It is an award-winning film and its screening cannot be stopped legally. The Right-wing forces have resorted to vandalism,” he said.

“The Right-wing forces do not want history to be told to the people. They want only Modi’s activities to be propagated,” he added.

In Kerala, CPM youth wing Democratic Youth Federation of India on Tuesday decided to screen Ram Ke Naam after Sangh Parivar activists tried to stop its screening by students of a film institute.

Students of K.R. Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts had originally scheduled the screening of the 1992 documentary at 7pm just outside the main gate of the facility in Kottayam on Monday. Sangh Parivar activists allegedly threatened to harm the students if they went ahead with the screening, prompting police to step in and defuse the tension.

The students eventually moved the screen within the campus and showed the documentary. “The Sangh Parivar activists openly threatened to chop our limbs and used misogynistic comments and actions against our female students,” the institute’s students’ council chairperson, Sreedevan K. Perumal, told The Telegraph on Tuesday.

The DYFI on Tuesday decided to screen the documentary everywhere in the state and even help anyone who wants to screen it.

V.K. Sanoj, the DYFI’s Kerala state secretary, told reporters: “The DYFI will not only withstand any threat from the Sangh Parivar but will also screen Ram Ke Naam across the state and help anyone wanting to screen it.” Sanoj added.