Curb police brutality or resign: Students in US to Shah

Protesting against the police action in Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University, over 400 Indian students and alumni from universities across the United States on Tuesday asked Home Minister Amit Shah to immediately take these steps to curb "brutality" by men in uniform or resign.

The students and alumni from Harvard, Columbia, University of Chicago, Yale and Standford among others also said they were "deeply concerned" about the statement of Chief Justice of India S A Bobde "terming these protests as riots and characterising this situation as simply one for the police to handle as a law and order problem, without recognising the violation of the rights of protestors, and especially the degree of violence unleashed on them."

Follow live updates of protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act here

Condemning the "brutal police violence" unleashed against students, they said it was a "gross violation of human rights" under the Constitution of India and International Human Rights Law.

"We express full solidarity with students across universities in India who are peacefully protesting against the recent passing of the unconstitutional and discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act...By every account, it appears that police and paramilitary, both at Jamia and at AMU, have used violence and pursued unlawful and reckless tactics against student protestors in violation of protections under the Constitution of India and International Human Rights law," a statement said.

"The entry of police and paramilitary into University premises, indiscriminate attacks within the premises of the University including releasing tear gas in libraries, and brutal use of force against civilians is a blatant violation of the law and can only shock the conscience of any democratic society," it said.

Also read — 10 arrested for violence in Jamia Millia, none students

It said students from Jamia were "arbitrarily" detained at police stations and were denied their constitutional right to access legal representation and "seen further in the light of the fact that most victims of this brutality were Muslim, these incidents stand out as shocking instantiations of targeted violence against a minority group".

The signatories of the statement demanded that Shah should immediately take "necessary steps to curb police brutality or resign".

They said called upon officers of the Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Administrative Services (IAS) to fulfil their duty to uphold the Constitution of India, and to resist any political demand to act in abuse of the powers that have been conferred upon them and, to ensure police forces under their command act strictly in accordance with the constitutional, legal and ethical constraints that bind them.