10 Arrested for Jamia violence, None are students

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Dec 17, 2019: Ten people, many of whom have criminal backgrounds, have been arrested in connection with Sunday’s violent clashes involving Jamia Millia Islamia students and Delhi Police. Although no students have been arrested so far, source said the cops had not yet given them a clean chit. Those arrested are from the Jamia and Okhla areas - both of which border the university - of the national capital, police added as to NDTV.

 

Delhi Police had earlier said a Crime Branch team will investigate the violence, while Jamia Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar called for a high-level inquiry into the actions of the cops.

The trouble began on Sunday evening after what started as a peaceful march by students - against the controversial new citizenship law - ended in a pitched battle between a violent mob and Delhi Police. By the time the dust settled, several hours later, more than a hundred two-wheelers, at least three public buses and a fire truck were either torched or damaged.

Delhi Police accused of unnecessarily brutal crackdown on protesting students

The violence left dozens of students and some cops injured. Two men, who were apparently part of the protest, were admitted to Delhi’s government-run Safdarjung Hospital on Monday with bullet injuries, the Medical Superintendent told NDTV, directly contradicting claims by the police that they did not fire bullets at protesters.

The cops, who have been accused of mounting an unnecessarily brutal crackdown, had also entered the Jamia campus - without permission - in pursuit of protesters and detained 100 students, who were released at 3.30 am on Monday after a show of strength outside Delhi Police Headquarter by students from Jamia, DU and JNU.

Controversy has erupted over whether Delhi Police fired on protestors at Jamia protest

Delhi Police responded to allegations of force and barging into the campus by insisting they "only acted to control the situation".

"Our only interest is to push the mob back, so law and order can be restored in the area. We have no problem with university (Jamia Millia Islamia University) students. We only acted to control the situation," Chinmaya Biswal, DCP (South East Delhi), was quoted by news agency ANI.

Pointing to the layout of the university, which does not have a closed campus, he said that as the mob was being pushed back, the police gave chase to check where they had hidden.

Shortly after the violence broke out Jamia students distanced themselves from the incident, which, some Delhi Police officers privately admitted, was the work of local thugs.

Jamia students have firmly denied they were party to any violence in clashes with Delhi Police

Their statement said: "We have time and again maintained our protests are peaceful and non-violent." The violence "by certain elements" was an attempt to vilify and discredit genuine protests, they added.

The university has claimed locals who joined the march were responsible for the violence. Ms Akhtar told NDTV members of the public "from the main road that divides the university campus into two may have joined the protest".

Violence had scarred parts of the country since the citizenship law - meant to facilitate grant of citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh - was passed. Much of the violence has taken place in the North East, Bengal and Delhi, and much of it has been led by the student community.