Citizenship Act: Jamia Millia Islamia Postpones Exams After Protests Rock Campus

The Jamia Millia Islamia has postponed all semester exams scheduled on Saturday in view of the tense situation in the varsity over the ongoing protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). “All the semester exams scheduled today have been postponed,” a senior varsity official said.

According to the amended Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and face religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship. President Ram Nath Kovind had given assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on Thursday night, turning it into an Act.

On Friday, the University turned into a battlefield after police and students, who wanted to march to Parliament House to protest the Citizenship Amendment Act, clashed with each other prompting AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan to reach the spot to take stock of the situation.

Fifty students were detained following the clash. The students, who were baton-charged by police personnel, alleged that the police also used tear gas to quell their march. The students also resorted to stone-pelting. However, the protestors alleged that police resorted to stone-pelting first and students threw stones in response to the attack.

Meanwhile, the Naga Students’ Federation (NSF) has called a 6-hour bandh on Saturday to protest against Act. The bandh began at 6am.

“Pursuant to the resolution adopted in the Emergency Executive Council Meeting of NSF, held on Friday at the Federation’s Headquarter, it was unanimously decided to call for a six-hour total bandh in all the Naga inhibited areas, starting from 6am to 12 noon on December 14,” a NSF statement said.

“The bandh has been called to express the resentment of the Naga people against the passing of the contentious CAB in the Parliament, much against the interests and the sentiments of the Indigenous people in the North East states,” the statement said.