We know what police did at Jamia

Two months after the police crackdown at the Jamia Millia University in Delhi, some video clips have confirmed the students’ charge of deliberate attacks on them and proved as wrong and concocted most of the police claims about the incident. One video released by the students’ organisation which is coordinating the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act has shown some police personnel and paramilitary men entering the Jamia library, beating up students and vandalising the place. Two other videos circulating online show some people moving around with objects in their hands which the police claimed were stones but on examination turned out to be mobile phones and wallets. Yet another video shows students being badly beaten up. It is not known whether the videos form one series and in what order they are linked. But there is no doubt that they are about the Jamia incident and are genuine.

The police have all these weeks denied that they even entered the library and claimed that they entered the campus in pursuit of rioting students. These exertions have been conclusively proven false by the video clips and images. The police ran riot in the library after smashing the CCTV camera there. That shows the attack was deliberate and the police tried to destroy any evidence of their action. Some of the personnel used masks and headgear to hide their identity. A force which claims to be disciplined and professional should not have acted wantonly as it did in Jamia. Even if some students indulged in provocative acts, the police should not have acted illegally. They should have acted in accordance with the standard operating procedures and the rule of law. It turns out that they behaved like a vindictive and marauding force that was intent on suppressing the protests or had instructions to deal with the protesters in the way that they did.

The police should be held accountable for their illegal actions and riotous conduct. There should be departmental and legal action against those who criminally attacked the students and vandalised property. But this is unlikely to happen as the police have been in denial about their violence and have claimed that they are the victims. The police did not file an FIR for two months about the university’s complaint against police violence. But it has filed a charge-sheet against 17 persons for rioting and instigation of violence. It says it has not been able to complete the investigation all these days even though there are enough records, evidence and witnesses to the incident. It has shown that it is prejudiced and partisan force. Such a police force is the foremost enemy of the rule of law.