Jamia University slams Delhi Police over December 15 violence, demands high-level probe

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Dec 26, 2019:  The Jamia Milia Islamia University administration has requested the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to initiate an inquiry into police violence on December 15 inside the university campus.

 

A Jamia University admin report accessed by India Today TV demands a high-powered committee or judicial inquiry into alleged police violence in and around the university campus on December 15, India Today reported.

The report said a large number of people from different localities in the adjoining areas of the university gathered at Jullena and Mathura Road to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). It claimed that police lobbed tear gas shells and lathi-charged people to clear the area; they also started pushing people during the protest.

"The crowd while retreating took Maulana Mohd Ali Jauhar Marg which passes through the university campus and Delhi Police entered the campus through gate number 4 and 7 by breaking the lock, beating guards on duty and breaking windows and doors of the library," the report said.

Severe and inhumane beating

The Jamia report claimed that police lobbed tear gas inside the university reading room and then forcefully entered inside and "beat all the students studying inside the library brutally". It goes on to say that the cops continued beating the students while they were taking them out.

The Jamia administration further said no permission was given to Delhi Police to enter the campus or library and described Delhi Police’s action as "unprovoked targeting of innocent students".

"This unprovoked targeting of the innocent students, who had nothing to do with the crowd, resulted in a severe and inhuman beating which led to the fracture of hands, legs and one student lost his eyesight because of a direct hit on the left eye by (police) lathi," the Jamia administration report said.

The report also says the students were taken into custody immediately after they were beaten up without any medical assistance. It claimed that some students were kept in two police stations-one batch in New Friends Colony and the other in Kalkaji.

They were finally released after the parents, guardians and college administration persuaded local Delhi Police authorities that the students were innocent and had nothing to do with the violence.

In its internal report, the Jamia administration has also asked a judicial committee to probe three things:

1) Unauthorised entry of Delhi Police inside campus

2) Use of force and infliction of brutal and grievous physical injuries on the students who were peacefully studying inside the reading room of the library

3) Vandalising and damaging the properties of the library/university and also damaging two-wheelers parked in the vicinity of the library.

What happend in Jamia on december 15

On December 15, the Delhi Police entered the Jamia Milia Islamia University campus and allegedly assaulted several students after a mob of unidentified people set a few public buses on fire nearby.

While police claimed they entered the campus to identify the agitators, several ground reports and eyewitnesses indicate that there was a brutal crackdown by Delhi Police on the Jamia campus.

Many students from the university have directly held policemen accountable for forcibly entering the campus and beating students, some who were just studying in the university library and were not part of the anti-CAA agitations outside.