Citizenship Act stir: Police action in Jamia Millia University unwarranted

The police excesses were even visible in Aligarh Muslim University, which also witnessed protests against the Act on Sunday.

Videos of purported police firing, injured students in the Jamia university bathroom as well as footage of them bleeding emerged on the social media. But Delhi Police refuted reports of any casualty during the clashes. (Photo | Arun Kumar P, EPS)

What started off as a peaceful protest by Jamia Millia Islamia students against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on Sunday turned into arson, rioting and violence, the scale of which Delhi has not witnessed in a long time. Buses were burnt, public property vandalised and stone-throwing took place on a large scale. It is as yet unclear if the violent protesters were students of the university, as the Delhi Police have alleged, or outsiders along with lumpen elements who were out to create trouble.

Only an independent inquiry will establish the truth. But even if a section of the students did indulge in violence, the subsequent police action against them inside the campus was unnecessary and unwarranted.

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Media reports and student voices suggest the police entered the university without any invitation and unleashed terror inside. It is alleged that they entered the library, hostels and even went inside washrooms to beat up the students at random.

The police excesses were even visible in Aligarh Muslim University, which also witnessed protests against the Act on Sunday.

In videos doing the rounds on social media, policemen can be seen vandalising and damaging public property and vehicles.

Jamia Millia Islamia Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar has said the university will lodge an FIR against the police for entering the campus without permission.

The police must register a case against themselves, identify the erring officials and arrest them to send a clear message to the rank and file that they cannot take the law into their own hands.

In the meantime, the least the police can do is transfer some of the high-handed policemen, order a departmental inquiry into the incident, and try and hold a meeting with the students and university authorities in order to clear the misunderstanding.

But unfortunately, all the Delhi Police have done until now is to close ranks and even justify the action. If such is the brazenness of the police, it is not surprising why the men in khaki remain among the most untrustworthy, feared and loathed.