Police file FIR naming MPs and students as Jamia union protest continues
Students at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi kept protesting for a restored union despite campus closures and a heavy police presence.
Delhi Police have registered an FIR naming MPs, political leaders, students and former students over alleged trespassing at Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi. Students there have been protesting since October 11 for the restoration of their students' union. The Economic Times and NDTV reported the case against MPs. NDTV's headline said the university's complaint was against Congress MPs.
The Hindu quoted the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, South East, as saying the FIR covers criminal trespassing, wrongful confinement and voluntarily causing hurt under the BNS. Sections of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Property Act were also added, as the complaint requested. The paper reported that the complaint came from the Economics department.
The protest grew on Sunday, October 25, a day after security personnel and teaching and non-teaching staff tried to remove the students. According to The Hindu, on Saturday the protest tent was pulled up from the lawn inside gate no. 7. Electricity and water to the campus were cut off, gates and libraries were shut and classes moved online until further notice.
On Sunday CRPF and Delhi Police personnel guarded the gates and dispersed students trying to get in, The Hindu reported. Some students climbed the gates. Those inside could not get filtered water and relied on friends to bring it. The paper said police pulled and physically handled many students, and some were detained.
"We have been trying to go inside the campus but the security personnel are not allowing us," Md. Zubair, a second-year Bachelor's student, told The Hindu. He said hostel students had been refused access to the health centre through gate no. 4.
The Vice-Chancellor visited around 1pm, inspected the gates and security arrangements and left without speaking to students, the paper reported. Habeeba, a student removed from the hostel, alleged that the V-C "used force to remove us and end our protest" after inviting students to talks. Students say the union has not existed since 2006.
A university official rejected that account. "Dialogue has been happening since day one," the official told The Hindu. Asked why students were forcibly removed, the official replied, "If they had been removed, they would not have been there still." On the water cuts, the official said classes were online and students "have no business being there". Students were also being told informally to leave the hostels ahead of the festive season.
NDTV reported that Delhi Police had not responded to the complaint or to allegations that several students were detained outside Gate 7. The police officer quoted by The Hindu said three people were detained outside the campus on Sunday. He said two of them, both women, had no link to Jamia and were released before sunset. The third, a food delivery worker, was held under preventive detention and was due to be presented before the SEM the following day.
Sources: The Hindu, Jamia student protest intensifies amid restrictions, heavy police deployment; NDTV, Jamia Millia Islamia Files Police Complaint Against Congress MPs For Trespassing During Stir; The Economic Times, FIR filed against MPs for trespassing at Jamia.
