Jamia Students Recount Night of Terror as CCTV Footage Demolishes Police Claims

A new video—claimed to be from CCTV in the Old Reading Room of Jamia Millia Islamia—which has been doing the rounds in social media since Saturday, February 15, has revealed the horrific incidents of brutality and barbarism by police and paramilitary forces inside the library of the university on December 15 last year. The unprecedented violence inside the university campus had left several students severely injured.

NewsClick spoke to a few students of the university who were present inside the library and the campus during the .

Nyla Khan, an MBA student of the university said that she was studying in the new library when she heard a commotion outside the building. Later, she said, it was found that the students were getting beaten up on the ground floor mercilessly. She said, “Since December 15 was a Sunday, all departments were closed. Several students were preparing for their examinations. Suddenly, we heard screams of students who were getting beaten up. Out of fear, few students ran to the first floor to save their lives. While beating the students, they were continuously hurling communal slurs and abuses. ‘Why don’t you go to Pakistan? Tumhe Azaadi Chahiye, yeh lo azaadi [You want freedom, here it is]. After witnessing this scene, we ran for our lives."

Also read: New CCTV Video Shows Police Attack in Jamia Reading Room

Commenting on the Delhi Police’s allegations that they had covered their faces, Khan said, “The police had been lobbing tear gas shells in the campus from 5:30 PM in the campus. The campus was completely covered in smoke. So, most people, including the police officials, had covered their faces with handkerchief. It is well known that if tear gas enters into the respiratory system, it causes immense inflammation. This is why we covered our faces."

Another student Md Mustafa, who was present in the M Phil/ PhD section of the library where the attack took place, narrated his account, “The students panicked when they saw other students getting beaten up mercilessly. So, we decided to block the door with tables but the police eventually entered and started beating up the students. The students were brought to the ground floor and again beaten. My both hands were fractured. I was taken to preventive detention around 7 PM. I told the officials that I was under a lot of pain but they took me to Jai Prakash Trauma Centre only by 3 AM. When I told the hospital authorities that I was beaten by police officials, they wrote on my medicolegal certificate (MLC) that I was beaten by unidentified men at the university. I think this is a breach of medical ethics too.”

Chandan Kumar, secretary of the Jamia unit of All India Students’ Association, told NewsClick that he had never imagined that such violence could occur in the campus. He said, “I was at Gate No. 7 when I saw police officials firing tear gas shells. I ran towards the library washroom as it was on the ground floor. One of my colleagues was also accompanying me. We locked ourselves in the washroom. But the police came inside and dragged us out of the toilet. Then, they hit my head with a lathi. I was bleeding profusely. I somehow ran from there. Later, two students took me to the Al Shifa hospital where the doctors stitched my wounds.”

The severity of the violence can be gauged from the fact that a student of LLM lost his left eye. The video, released by the Jamia Coordination Committee on Saturday, shows that the police in riot gear and paramilitary forces broke the door of the library in the M Phil/PhD section. Soon, students pleaded to the personnel with folded hands to let them go. However, the forces started beating students indiscriminately with lathis. A student could be seen getting hit on the head. Interestingly, the video also shows that the personnel, after unleashing the mayhem, tried to destroy the CCTV cameras.

Even after 62 days of violence, the Delhi Police has not filed an FIR on the complaints made by the students and the university administration. The Delhi Police had maintained that they never entered the library premises and beat the students. Commenting on the new footage, Special CP (Crime) Praveer Ranjan said that the police was verifying the veracity of the video.

“We received footage from JMI a few days ago only after repeatedly requesting them to hand it over to us. We have to verify the footage, see if it’s been doctored, and also establish the chain of sequence,” Ranjan was quoted by The Indian Express as saying.

The report added that Ranjan maintained that the police “entered the campus in hot pursuit after rioters started going inside the campus and began pelting stones at police.”

Sharjeel Imam Sent to One-Day Police Custody

Meanwhile, a Delhi court on Monday sent Sharjeel Imam, arrested on sedition charge last month, to one-day custody of Delhi Police in a separate case related to violent protests against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) at New Friends Colony on December 15, PTI reports.

 Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur gave the order after the police said that they want to quiz Imam, as an accused in the December 15 violence had alleged that that he was provoked by Imam's speeches. Imam has not been booked in this case.

Imam, who came into limelight during the ongoing protest in Shaheen Bagh against the amended Citizenship Act and the National Register of Citizens, was arrested from Bihar's Jehanabad on January 28 for allegedly making inflammatory speeches at the Jamia Millia Islamia University here and in Aligarh.

A case had been registered against him on sedition and other charges on January 26 in this regard.

Also watch: EXPLAINED: What Really Happened in Jamia?