Jamia Protests: 50 Students Detained During Night, Released, Says Delhi Police

As many as 50 students, who were detained during protests at the Jamia Millia Islamia University on Sunday, were released in the early hours of Monday, police said. This came after Over 300 people gathered outside old Delhi Police Headquarters at ITO to protest against police action at Jamia Millia University. Of the 50 students, 35 were released from the Kalkaji police station and 15 from the New Friends Colony police station, a senior police officer said.

On Sunday night, the Delhi Minority Commission (DMC) issued a direction to the SHO of Kalkaji Police Station to release the “injured” Jamia students held there or take them for treatment at a reputed hospital without any delay. In the order, DMC Chairman Zafarul Islam Khan said failure to implement it will attract appropriate action.

Police used batons and teargas shells to disperse the violent mob, but denied firing at them. However, videos of purported police firing, injured students in the university bathroom as well as footage of them bleeding emerged on the social media. But Delhi Police refuted reports of any casualty during the clashes.

Following the arson on roads, police entered the Jamia university campus, where tension prevailed as several persons were detained for alleged involvement in the violence.

Soon after the violence, Jamia Millia Islamia Chief Proctor Waseem Ahmed Khan claimed that the Delhi Police entered the campus forcibly without any permission and beat up staff members and students who were forced to leave the campus.

Protestors torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with police in New Friends’ Colony near Jamia Millia Islamia during a demonstration.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said four buses and two police vehicles were torched during the protest, and six policemen were injured. He said stones were pelted from inside the university campus at police personnel, forcing them to use teargas to disperse the “violent mob”.