JCC accuses Delhi police of 'witch hunting' after arrest of Jamia student

The Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) on Monday accused the Delhi Police of "witch hunting" Jamia Millia Islamia students after Asif Iqbal Tanha was arrested in connection with the violence in Jamia area during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in December last year. The JCC comprises students and alumni of the university. The group was formed after alleged police brutality on the campus on December 15 after an anti-CAA protest.

It claimed that Tanha was arrested on Sunday from his residence. "Tanha, hailing from Jharkhand and a final year graduate student in Persian language, has been a vocal leader of JCC and a prominent face of anti-CAA protest across India.  "Police called him first for interrogation, but later produced him in front of a magistrate and sent in judicial custody to Tihar prison," the JCC said.

Earlier, three of JCC leaders Meeran Haidar, Safoora Zargar, and Shifa-ur-Rahman were arrested for anti-CAA protests and allegedly instigating riots in northeast Delhi. "Instead of enquiring into the northeast Delhi violence and arresting the real culprits, Delhi police is shamelessly witch-hunting Jamia student leaders. While all the conspirators and perpetrators of northeast Delhi violence are roaming free, it is our leaders who are being sent to jail and slapped with draconian laws," the JCC said.

The Jamia Coordination Committee demanded the release of all the activists arrested in connection with anti-CAA protests. "We request all democratic forces to rise in protest to stop this illegal and revengeful police action and demand the arrest of real culprits behind northeast Delhi violence. We also reiterate that we will not yield to the intimidations of Delhi Police but will continue our fight against laws like CAA/NRC/NPR," the JCC said. On December 15 last year, protesters torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with police in New Friends' Colony near Jamia Millia Islamia during a demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act, leaving at least 40 people including students, policemen and firefighters injured, officials had then said.

In order to look for the accused in the violence outside the campus, police had entered the varsity and allegedly baton-charged and attacked students studying inside the library..

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