JMIU students asked to sign declaration that says police didn’t enter hostel

After clashes rocked the Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMIU) on Sunday, protests have reached the Delhi University (DU) on December 16. Starting at the North Campus, at the Faculty of Social Science, students reportedly decided to boycott exams to express solidarity with their counterparts in JMIU and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

However, reports of unrest came in with students accusing members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) of causing trouble at the peaceful protests.

A student on campus told The Quint, “We came in the morning to give our exam paper, but we saw that police started misbehaving with the 10-15 students who were protesting. We then decided that we also have to protest here against the violence in Jamia. Then, around 60-70 of us students gathered and started sloganeering peacefully. Later, 4-5 goons of the ABVP came with sticks and started beating (us up). Around 70-80 police personnel were there, but the goons were beating us up. We saw the police talking to those who were beating us up. The police didn’t give us any protection.”

“We have seen how the police were backing the ABVP supporters while they were manhandling the other students who were protesting against the Jamia incident,” said Pankaj, a student of M.Phil.

Speaking to India TV, a student from the ABVP said, “These people (student protestors) are locking down the building, not letting anyone give exams. They are writing azaadi everywhere. Will the students write azaadi in their exams and raise slogans? We are also from Delhi University. They are trying to burn down Delhi University (DU). They burned down Bengal, JMIU, Lucknow (universities) and are now trying to burn down DU. DU will not burn down. No common student of DU will allow these people to enter. We have and will remove such elements from the campus.”

The ABVP student was probably mentioning the members of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and the All India Students’ Association (AISA) who have now joined the DU students in their protests against the ABVP and the police.

Delhi University’s Student Union President Akshit Dahiya who belongs to the ABVP also put out a statement saying the students misled the faculty saying that exams would happen later and that most of the students were not from DU. He also said that they raised anti-national slogans and that he rejected the lockdown.

Abhigyan, a student of Ramjas College told reporters, “I am the only one who has been detained at Maurice Nagar Police Station. There was a group of 60-70 students who were protesting outside the Arts Faculty against police action on Jamia students.”

Another student said he has come in solidarity with Jamia students. “We have come here to protest against the NRC and CAA. We would not stop here and will keep raising our voice,” said Vaibhav (21), a student of Delhi University.

It has also come to light that the female students from JMIU are being made to sign a declaration that the police didn’t come inside the hostel by their teachers. This, even after Najma Akhtar, the Vice Chancellor of JMI has taken an official stance supporting the students and demanding a high-level probe in the matter.

Protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) are in full steam throughout India, with students having come to the forefront to lead the protest. Assam and neighboring Meghalaya and Tripura have been under curfew, AMU and JMIU have witnessed violence and now students from all over the country are joining the protest against the anti-constitutional CAA. Police brutality against people – right from the public in Assam to the students in JMIU, AMU and now DU, has shown blatant human rights violations that are being committed in the name of maintaining peace.

Not only that, it has now openly come to light that fringe elements like the RSS and ABVP, both affiliated to the BJP are stoking the element of violence into peaceful protests thereby threatening the lives of innocent students.