5 Years Of Police Brutality: Jamia Closes Library, Canteen On Resistance Day

New Delhi: Perhaps the biggest terror that the students in a university in India have gone through will be in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia in 2019 when the city police and the paramilitary RAF made forceful entry and unleashed violence upon students even at the library, severely injuring many who were not even part of the confrontation with police outside the campus.

Jamia students have organised a resistance day today, December 15, to remember “five years of Hindutva fascist attack.” A gathering and a march will be held at the central canteen at 4 pm. Notably, in an attempt to suppress the students, the institution has arbitrarily closed the university library and canteen ahead of the event today.

The university issued circulars and notices announcing a closure for the day. The circulars directed faculties, departments, centres, canteens in gate no.7, and even the library to remain closed, citing “repair work” as the official reason, amid the ongoing semester examinations. The closure notice comes hours after the students informed the authorities about their decision to remember the December 15 attack since they have been conducting the commemoration of the brutality for the past four years.

Read Also: 4 Years, 7 Months In Jail: What Is Happening With Gulfisha Fatima?

The incident had unfurled on this day in 2019 on the backdrop of the countrywide protest against the “discriminatory” Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Videos of police entering the campus, beating students at the library and washroom, had gone viral on social media and the national channels, leaving hundreds injured.

Following the brutal attacks on Jamia, thousands from across universities in India held protests against the police violence in the central university in different cities. The atrocity also drew international attention and condemnation.

The clash between the protesters and police reportedly started when later attacked the peaceful protesters with stones and batons. The police denied the allegations, claiming that protesters attacked them with stones when they were prevented from the march.

The police entered the campus on the evening of December 15 without permission from the university authorities after the students took out a march, which was dismissed by the police lathi charge outside the campus. They fired tear gas canisters inside the main library and beat students as they tried to escape in panic. Notably, though the police denied entering the library, the Jamia Coordination Committee released a CCTV footage confirming that police and paramilitary personnel entering the library and the research scholar section, attacking students. Visuals showed police breaking doors of reading rooms and beating students.

Read Also: “Did Not Ask To Pick Weapons But Speeches…”: Delhi Court Denies Bail To Sharjeel Imam

As the police defended their action, saying they entered the campus to disperse the crowd when the buses were burnt, the students categorically denied the claim of involvement in burning the bus. Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had expressed doubt of a conspiracy behind the bus burn, blaming dirty politics behind the incident. He tweeted pictures showing a Delhi Police constable with a gallon near the burning buses.

Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia University Najma Akhtar condemned the police action, terming the incident unfortunate as the students were “protesting peacefully.”

Stating that the police coming inside without any notice, destroying campus properties and  treating students in a barbaric way is not acceptable, the VC said a lot of damages have been done inside the university. “We are not concerned about the material loss but about the emotional turmoil that our students had to go through,” the VC said at a press conference after the police atrocities.

December 15 also saw police entering and assaulting students in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), leaving several students injured as protests erupted across the country against the controversial CAA.

Read Also: Delhi Elections: AAP Releases Final List; Arvind Kejriwal From New Delhi

Despite the well-documented violence from the police, the resulting impunity has been criticised so far. While several students were arrested under draconian anti-terror laws by the same police who unleashed violence, no police officials were charged as the official narrative of the incident shielded them.

Though a report by the National Human Rights Commission sought administrative action against police officers, no criminal prosecution was done, nor has any commission of inquiry been set up.

“Sab Yaad Rakha Jayega (Everything Will Be Remembered),” read the poster by various student organizations ahead of the march today.