JOIN USDelhi Police defends move to enter Jamia; FIR against 7
Amid outrage over police entering Jamia Millia Islamia University lobbing tear gas shells into library and baton charging, Delhi Police has sought to defend its actions, saying they marched into the campus to secure the lives of students following stone-pelting from inside the campus.
The police have filed an FIR against seven persons, including three student leaders of Jamia, for the violence during the Sunday protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act during which vehicles were torched and police posts were damaged.
Seven persons who have been named in the FIR include former MLA Asif Khan. The FIR alleged that Khan and another local politician Ashu Khan were "instigating" students for the past three days to indulge in sloganeering during protests. Others named in the FIR included student leaders Chandan Kumar (AISA). Asif Tanka (SIO) and Kasim Usmani (CYSS) and local politicians Mustafa and Haider.
According to the FIR, those named in the FIR were leading the protests, which turned violent as they indulged in stone-pelting, damaging buses and other vehicles as well as two police posts. It claimed that the police repeatedly appealed to the protesters who were on the streets outside the varsity to maintain peace but the violence continued.
"Despite repeated appeals by police, the protesters continued the violence, indulged in stone pelting...several policemen were injured. Following this, under orders of senior officers, tear gas shells were lobbed at the protesters," the FIR said. At least 52 tear gas shells were lobbed to control the mob, it said.
The police claimed then there was stone-pelting from inside the campus while some others took out tyres of vehicles parked outside the campus and set it on fire. "There was continuous stone-pelting from inside the campus. To identify the culprits and to take them out and to secure the students, police force entered the campus but the stone-pelting continued," it said adding it fell on deaf ears.
While the police said "minimum force" was used to evict trouble-makers from the campus, students' versions countered the claim saying police ran riot in the campus, lobbing tear gas shells and even targeting students, including girls, even inside washrooms. The FIR does not mention police using tear gas shells inside the campus.
Several footages were also posted by students and others on social media, prompting an Opposition delegation led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to raise the issue with President Ram Nath Kovind.