New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) University Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar met Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik and urged him to lodge an FIR in connection with the police action on campus after violence erupted during an anti-CAA protest nearby, officials said Tuesday.
Besides Patnaik, the Jamia VC also met Special Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) Praveer Ranjan and Joint Commissioner of Police, Southern Range, Devesh Srivastava.
The vice-chancellor had said Monday the varsity administration will ‘explore the possibility’ of moving court for registration of an FIR against ‘police brutality’ on the campus after hundreds of angry students gheraoed her office demanding action against the Delhi Police.
Meanwhile, a team of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) officials visited Tuesday, the university to record statements of the students who were injured during police action on the campus.
Meanwhile in a separate development at least 170 students of JMI have lodged complaints with the legal desk set up at the university following the violence of December 15 on campus claiming Delhi Police is refusing to listen to their grievances.
Students of the law course started the legal desk after the December 15 violence during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Sharjeel Ahmed, who heads the desk said: “We have so far received 170 complaints from the students who faced violence, harassment and abuse on the day of the incident. As Delhi Police refused our complaints directly, we set up this desk to compile all the complaints and take them to the NHRC and later to the court with the help of senior advocates.”
She also said that if the NHRC after its inquiry does not provide justice, they will demand a separate investigation based on these testimonies.
Sharjeel claimed that the students who ‘faced police atrocity and whose complaints weren’t accepted at police stations have lost faith in Delhi Police’ and want a ‘neutral platform that would listen to them and help them get justice’.
Among those who gave their testimonies to the legal desk is Mohd Anas, a PG student of electrical engineering, who claims he was chased and beaten up by police.
Huda, an MA journalism student, who also lodged a complaint alleged, “I was in the campus and making placards on CAA. We were near the main gate when the violence began. I ran away and hid in the washroom and for an hour, I heard firing of shots. When we came out, the police started harassing, made us sit on the floor and began questioning. The police harassed many female students.”
PTI