NEW DELHI: Taking note of a Supreme Court order asking it to promptly hear such matters, the Delhi High Court on Friday requested its division bench to decide “early date” petitions concerning incidents of violence in Jamia Millia Islamia in December 2019 following student protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma sent petitions, which have alleged the use of ruthless and excessive force by the police and paramilitary forces on students, to the division bench headed by Justice Siddharth Mridul and directed that it be listed for hearing on November 29 along with pleas concerning the riots of February 2020.
“List all matters before Division Bench (DB) on November 29. The DB is requested to decide the matter at an early date as directed by the Supreme Court,” the bench said. The petitions seek directions for setting up a Special Investigation Team (SIT), Commission of Inquiry, medical treatment, compensation for the students and registration of FIRs against the erring police officers.
The police had earlier opposed the plea for setting up of an SIT or a CoI to look into the incidents of violence, saying it would “amount to supplanting the law”. The petitioners before the court are lawyers, students of JMI, residents of Okhla in south Delhi, where the university is located, and the Imam of the Jama Masjid mosque opposite Parliament House. On October 19, the SC requested the high court to “hear out early” the petitions concerning the incidents of violence while noting that “ these matters are pending before the high court for some time now”.