Jamia VC demanded CBI inquiry into “police brutality”.
NEW DELHI : Jamia Millia Islamia Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar has said that the varsity will not tolerate police presence on campus and has demanded a high-level inquiry into the crackdown on university students.
The situation is tense at the Jamia Milia Islamia University campus and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) a day after hundreds of agitators took to roads in Delhi and across states to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Addressing a press conference, Akhtar said police entered the campus on Sunday night without permission and added that assaulting students who were studying in the library is unacceptable.
Soon after the violence at Jamia Millia Islamia, Chief Proctor Waseem Ahmed Khan said the Delhi Police entered the campus forcibly without any permission and beat up staff members and students who were forced to leave the campus. Condemning the police action, university vice chancellor Najma Akhtar said students who were inside the library, which was allegedly surrounded by the police, were taken out and were safe.
“We will file an FIR against the entry of Police in our university campus. You can rebuild the property but you cannot compensate for the things the students went through. We demand a high level inquiry,” says Najma Akhtar,Jamia Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia University
Jamia students are back on the streets, standing shirtless in bone chilling winter to demand action against Delhi Police over the violence on campus last night. Slogans of “inquilab zindabad” echoed as the group took out a demanding CBI inquiry into “police brutality”. Another group of students have formed a human chain to resume peaceful protests against the politically contentious Citizenship Amendment Act.
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, said it will hear all matters related to the new citizenship law on December 18. Protests against the amended act that started in Assam and Bengal last week have now spread to Delhi and Uttar Pradesh with universities in Hyderabad and Mumbai also witnessing solidarity marches.
As many as 50 students, who were detained at the Jamia Millia Islamia University during protests against the amended Citizenship Act were released in the early hours of Monday even as demonstrations erupted in universities in Aligarh, Hyderabad and Kolkata overnight.
Four public buses and two police vehicles were torched during protests in New Friends Colony near Jamia Millia Islamia on Sunday evening, resulting in police action which left nearly 60 people, including students, injured. Police used batons and teargas shells to disperse the crowd, but denied firing at them. However, videos of police firing, injured students in the university bathroom as well as footage of them bleeding emerged on the social media.
“There was no firing, no casualties in Jamia violence,” MS Randhawa, the Public Relations Officer of Delhi Police, told reporters at a press conference this afternoon. “There was no firing from our side. Our referral hospital is AIIMS, we did not get these people admitted. We are probing further. There are some things that cannot be shared right now,” he said.
West Bengal also plunged deeper into chaos and an uneasy calm prevailed in Assam, the epicentre of the agitation against the new citizenship law. Peaceful protests were held in Assam amid calls by the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) for resignation of its ministers. The party, which is part of the BJP-led government in Assam, decided it will move the Supreme Court against the amendments made in the Citizenship Act.
The university had on Saturday cancelled exams and announced vacation till January 5 in view of the tension, while the Aligarh Muslim University too was closed till January 5. In Uttar Pradesh, hundreds of students of Aligarh Muslim University clashed with the police at a campus gate after which police used batons and teargas to disperse them.AMU Proctor Prof Afifullah Khan said some security personnel have been injured in brick-batting near the gate. Police said the student broke down the police cordon.
Internet services were shut in West Bengal’s six districts — Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, Murshidabad, Howrah, North 24 Parganas and parts of South 24 Parganas — as the state convulsed with violence for the third successive day despite CM Mamata Banerjee’s appeal for calm.
Hitting out at the Trinamool Congress dispensation over advertisements against the NRC and the citizenship law, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said it is unconstitutional and a head of government can’t use public money for such campaigns.
At a poll rally in Jharkhand’s Dumka, PM Modi said, “The Congress and its allies are stoking fire over the Citizenship Act, but people of northeast have rejected violence. “People who are setting fire (to property) can be seen on TV… They can be identified by the clothes they are wearing,” he said without elaborating.
In Assam, Gauhati Medical College and Hospital Superintendent Ramen Talukdar told PTI, “Ishwar Nayak died last night and Abdul Alim succumbed to his injuries this morning.”Two persons, identified as Sam Stafford and Dipanjal Das, were shot dead on Thursday. Police said 175 people have been arrested and 1,406 taken into preventive custody across Assam.
AGP leader Kumar Deepak Das said the party would file a petition in the Supreme Court for revocation of the amended Citizenship Act, Demonstrations outside party headquarters in Ambari area, demanding resignation of three ministers, including party chief Atul Bora.
AGP leader and Assam minister Keshab Mahanta said the party has not left its “old stand” of opposing the law.”Though we are a part of the NDA, our stand has not changed. We still do not want this Act to be implemented in Assam and the northeast,” he said.
The party’s lone MP in Rajya Sabha, Birendra Prasad Baishya, opposed the Bill during discussion, but voted in favour of it following which the party is facing severe criticism.Students organisations AASU and AJYCP also took out rallies across the state, seeking revocation of the law.
Crude oil and gas production in Assam has been hit, affecting supply of petrol, diesel and LPG in many districts. The two major producers Oil India Ltd (OIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Sunday said their gas output have totally stopped, while oil production is down by over 75 per cent.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Jamia Milia Islamia incident: Government has attacked the constitution & students, they attacked students after entering the university. We will fight for the constitution, we will fight against this government.
“Once I was alone. Today Delhi’s CM says that he won’t allow this. Bihar’s CM says that he won’t allow NRC, I tell him don’t allow #CitizenshipAmendmentAct too. MP’s CM said that,Punjab’s CM said that,Chhattisgarh’s CM said that,Kerala’a CM said that, everyone has to say it,” says West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.(With Agency Inputs ).
