Plea moved in HC against police action on Jamia students

A PIL was moved in the Delhi High Court on Monday against the police action on students protesting against the amended Citizenship Act at the Jamia Millia Islamia University. The petition was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar seeking that it be listed for hearing during the day.

The bench, however, declined to list it on Monday, saying "there is no urgency". The plea moved by Rizwan, a lawyer and also a resident of Jamia Nagar close to the varsity, has claimed in his plea that on December 15 while students and members of the teachers' association of the university were observing a peaceful protest, the police broke into the campus, used tear gas and also lathi-charged the protestors.

The petition, filed through advocates Tariq Khan and Apoorv Singhal, has also alleged that the police officers switched-off the lights of the reading hall, locked the doors from outside, and threw tear gas bombs inside. Apart from that, the police fired at students and also illegally detained several of them, the plea has further alleged and sought a judicial inquiry into the incident.

Rizwan, in his plea, has contended that what the police has done cannot by any stretch of the imagination be termed as justifiable police action. "It can only be called a blatant abuse of power upon unarmed and innocent students," the petition has said.

Apart from the judicial inquiry, the plea has also sought proper medical treatment and compensation for the students injured in the incident. Protestors torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with police in New Friends' Colony near Jamia university during a demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act, leaving six cops and two firemen injured, officials have said.

The trouble started during a protest by students of Jamia Millia Islamia. But a students' body later said they had nothing to do with the violence and arson and alleged that "certain elements" had joined in and "disrupted" the demonstration.

Soon after the violence, Jamia Millia Islamia Chief Proctor Waseem Ahmed Khan claimed that the Delhi Police entered the campus forcibly without any permission and beat up staff members and students who were then forced to leave the campus. Condemning the police action, university Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar said students who were inside the library have been taken out and are safe.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)