- College students in Rajasthan alleged that they were detained for calling IAS officer Tina Dabi a "reel star"
- They called Dabi, Barmer's district collector, a "reel star" for not addressing their concerns
- Dabi rejected the allegations, saying no one got arrested or detained
College students in Rajasthan's Barmer have alleged that they were detained for calling the district collector, Tina Dabi, a "reel star", a charge rejected by the famous Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.
They said they were staging a protest against the examination fee hike outside Barmer's Maharana Bhupal College (MBC) Girls College on Saturday and wanted to meet Dabi, who cleared the UPSC Civil Services Examination in her first attempt when she was 22, to raise the issue.
The situation, however, escalated when an official said that Dabi is a "role model" for them.
Some students, who were affiliated with the BJP-backed students' body, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), disagreed with the official.
"The Collector is not a role model. If she were, she would have come here to listen to the demands of the students. She is a reel star, goes everywhere to make reels, but does not pay attention to our problems," they said.
The arrest of students for expressing their views is deeply condemnable and strikes at the very core of democratic values. When police officials asked the protesting girls to speak to the Collector, IAS Tina Dabi, referring to her as a “real star,” ABVP students clearly responded… pic.twitter.com/xrfxxiievz
— ABVP (@ABVPVoice) December 22, 2025
They later alleged that they were detained after their sit-in protests concluded.
Many students then gathered around the police station, demanding the release of the detained students.
Senior police officer Manoj Kumar said they didn't detain or arrest anyone.
"Neither did the police detain nor arrest anyone, and we did not mishandle any girl. To calm the situation, we brought four boys to the police station and later told them to leave. However, students gathered near the police station and demanded an apology from the administration. They stayed there for some time until our senior officers arrived and spoke to them," he told NDTV.
Tina Dabi Dismisses Charge
Tina Dabi also rejected the allegations.
"No one ever got arrested or even detained. Some students, despite the fee hike issue being resolved, were blocking the road and trying to create a nuisance. They were taken to a police station by my subordinates for talks and cooling down. They then left two hours later, and the issue on the ground was dead," she said in a written statement to NDTV.
"The issue is alive only on social media. What is running on social media is just to malign and get some cheap publicity," she added.
Her response came after many people, including Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, slammed her for the alleged action.
"Just another day of a bureaucrat being intolerant in India. They continue to bypass harsh scrutiny despite their corruption, power drunkenness and now intolerance," Chaturvedi wrote on X.
Just another day of a bureaucrat being intolerant in India.
— Priyanka Chaturvedi🇮🇳 (@priyankac19) December 22, 2025
They continue to bypass harsh scrutiny despite their corruption, power drunkenness and now intolerance. pic.twitter.com/8OAMLwZG4r
The ABVP also said the "arrests of students for expressing their views is deeply condemnable and strikes at the very core of democratic values".
The arrest of students for expressing their views is deeply condemnable and strikes at the very core of democratic values. When police officials asked the protesting girls to speak to the Collector, IAS Tina Dabi, referring to her as a “real star,” ABVP students clearly responded… pic.twitter.com/xrfxxiievz
— ABVP (@ABVPVoice) December 22, 2025
"Since when has freedom of expression become a crime? ABVP strongly condemns this suppressive action and stands firmly with students in defence of democratic rights," the students' body posted on X.
