Court directs Delhi Police to file ATR on Jamia's plea seeking FIR in Dec 15 violence

Delhi's Saket Court on Wednesday asked the city police to file the action taken report (ATR) on Jamia Millia Islamia's (JMI) plea in which the varsity administration has sought the direction to file an FIR on the police action on the campus on December 15, 2019.

Delhi's Saket Court on Wednesday asked the city police to file the action taken report (ATR) on Jamia Millia Islamia's (JMI) plea in which the varsity administration has sought the direction to file an FIR on the police action on the campus on December 15, 2019. The court has listed the matter for the next hearing on March 16.

JMI in his petition filed through advocates Asghar Khan and Tariq Nasir requested the court to register FIR under various charges dealing with an attempt to murder, trespassing, voluntarily causing hurt, criminal conspiracy and under Sections 3 and 4 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984. The JMI petition submits that state should be held accountable for such illegal and unlawful acts, excessive, unnecessary force used by the police officials against the innocent protesting students.

It further says that the police officials have committed serious offences Sections 268 (public nuisance) 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), 296 (disturbing religious assembly), 297 (trespassing on burial places), 298 (uttering, words, with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings), 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 338 (causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) 341 (wrongful restraint) 447 (trespass) and other various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Sections 3 and 4 of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984. The advocates told the Metropolitan Magistrate Rajat Goel that the complainant is constrained to approach this court against the Delhi Police officials for illegally breaking out into the campus of university on December 15, 2019, without seeking any permission from the competent authorities and unlawfully attacking innocent students with tear gas shells, lathi charge and open firing and also for vandalising government property belonging to the university.

They also told the court that the Chief Proctor of the University filed a complaint dated December 16, 2019, to the Station House Officer of Jamia Nagar for the registration of FIR against the unauthorised entry of police into the university campus, inflicting physical injuries to the students studying in library and damaging the properties of University on December 15. However, no FIR has been registered in this regard. The university has submitted many photographs to support its claim, they added.The complainant said that the students of the university were mercilessly beaten, hurled abuses, racial and derogatory comments were herald, tear gas shells were fired, and lathi charge was done.

"Some of the police officials without any just cause broke open the main library gate and also the doors and windows of the library building and fired tear gas shells on peaceful studying students even inside the library." "That the said police officials upon realising being recorded in CCTV, switched off the lights of the reading hall, locked the doors from outside and threw tear gas bombs inside the library. It is submitted that the students in the photos and videos can be seen to be badly injured and lying on the floor in an unconscious state. It is further submitted that the injuries received by the students are grievous in nature and one of the students even lost an eye," adds the petition.

According to the complaint, there has been a huge loss to the government property and there are photographs and video footage evidencing the fact that after entering the campus, the police officials vandalised the government property belonging to the varsity and the mosque of the campus. Earlier JMI, in a statement, had said that it had been decided in its Executive Council (EC) that the university will move the court seeking direction to the police to register the FIR with regard to the 15 December 2019 police action on students in the library.On January 13, JMI Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar had said that Delhi Police entered the varsity campus on December 15 without permission and the process of filing an FIR against them will begin on January 14.Akhtar's remark came after hundreds of students entered the JMI campus and protested outside the VC's office demanding FIR against the Delhi Police for the December 15, 2019 incident.

The students barged into the office after breaking the lock on the main gate and raised slogans against the V-C. They had staged a sit-in outside the office, asking the VC to interact with them over the issue. On December 15, the Delhi Police allegedly had thrown teargas shells inside the campus, barged into the premises and dragged students out of the library before assaulting them.The action followed a day of protests where some protesters -- Jamia has maintained were outsiders and not students -- set buses and vehicles on fire in some parts of South Delhi.Following this, Akhtar had demanded a high-level enquiry against the police entering into the campus and the crackdown on students. She had said the university would also file an FIR against "unidentified police personnel" for the "violence and vandalism." (ANI)

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