Eight students and two teachers of Delhi University have alleged that police have registered a false FIR against them in retaliation to teachers’s complaint against the cops after they assaulted them.
The teachers and students were detained for being part of a protest against Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Delhi University's Shri Ram College of
Commerce.
The protest took place on February 6 and the FIR was filed the next day by the cops.
“The day we were detained, the cops told us that we will be released unconditionally.
Because we were badly assaulted, I still have bruises. We filed a written medico-legal complaint (MLCs) of the injured protestors which confirmed the assault on them that day. The next day the cops filed FIRs against us, two of which are non-bailable offence,” said P K Vijayan, one of the detained teachers.
According to Vijayan, the police refused to file their MLC. “After much persuasion, they allowed us to write the complaint in a diary entry. While we were filing it, the cops warned us that filing a complaint against the cops will have its repercussions,” he alleged.
The detainees were charged under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed), 186 (obstruction of public servant), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to public servant) and 353 (assault or criminal force on public servant). The last two sections come under non-bailable offences.
“This was unexpected and uncalled for. Even in the videos captured by the police, none of the detainees indulged in any violent behaviour. This happened precisely because complaints were lodged against the police as well as against goons of the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) who had also assaulted the protestors,” said a detainee student.
Several female students and teachers were molested, manhandled and abused using the crudest sexual language and gestures by police personnel, the student added.
After the FIR was filed, several teachers reached the Maurice Nagar police station on the night of February 7 to persuade the cops to withdraw the FIR.
“The incharge told us that since the FIR has been lodged, nothing can be done now, giving a verbal assurance that nobody will be bothered. But this FIR is still dangling over our heads. There are students, who could be picked up at any point of time citing this FIR. The idea is that if we decide to act on our complaint, they will act on theirs,” said Vijayan.
Several detained students also alleged that they were being followed and that pressure was being mounted on them to withdraw their complaint.
“We strongly condemn the silence of the university administration, which is morally and legally responsible for the safety and security of its teachers and students. It is shocking that the university administration should have allowed such a heavy police deployment against its own teachers and students in the first place,” said a student.
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