New Delhi: A protest called by the students of Jamia Milia Islamia University against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) took a violent turn on Sunday with police resorting to lobbing tear gas shells to disperse them.
The Delhi police said four buses and two police vehicles were torched during the protest. The agitators even pelted stones from Jamia campus after which the police used teargas and resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the mob.
The police entered the campus and blocked the gates to nab some “outsiders,” who had entered the premises to hide. It was also claimed by the Jamia students that the violence and arson, which engulfed South Delhi, was also instigated by the hooligans who tried to vilify their protest against the amended Citizenship Act.
Apart from it, some other vehicles were also vandalised. However, the Jamia chief proctor said that the police entered the campus by force and no permission was taken. It beat the staff and students, and later forced them to leave campus.
Both the Jamia Millia Islamia students’ community as well as the Teachers’ Association have disassociated themselves from the violence and arson that took place near the university on Sunday afternoon.
Escorted by the police, the youths could be seen coming out of their hostels with their hands raised. Some of them claimed that the police also entered the library and “harassed” the students. There was heavy deployment of police in and around the campus.“The Delhi police gheraoed Jamia students in the library. We do not subscribe to the bus burning incident which happened. Those who did it were not from the varsity, they were outsiders. Innocent students are being targeted,” claimed a student, who did not wish to be named.
Some others alleged that students have been detained by the police, but there was no confirmation from the Delhi police. It said it was focussing on bringing the situation under control.
Three public buses and a fire tender were set on fire by the protesters during the violence and arson in New Friends’ Colony.
The students claimed that “certain” local elements had “disrupted” their protest and indulged in violence. The sources said that as the police tried to disperse the protesters, by using baton charge and firing teargas shells, some of the “outsiders” ran towards the campus and tried to hide there. The police personnel entered the campus and blocked the gates to nab these miscreants, it said.
The Delhi police personnel were also seen escorting injured colleagues to safety as burnt tyres, buses, and shards of glasses littered the street around them. Jamia Millia Islamia chief proctor Waseem Ahmed Khan claimed, on Sunday, that the Delhi police personnel entered the university by force without any permission and beat up staff members and students who were forced to leave the campus. University vice chancellor Najma Akhtar said students who were inside the library had been taken out and were safe. Ms Akhtar condemned the police action.
Later in the evening, students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) held a protest outside the Police Headquarters in central Delhi against the police action at Jamia university and the standoff continued till late in the night.
