Cops ‘Softer’ than Before, Now Friendly to Students: Jamia VC

Naomi Akhtar said that police are softer than before and are no longer dreaded by students.

Akhtar said that the police are softer than before and are no longer dreaded by students.

(Photo: The Quint)

Almost nine months after she lashed out at the Delhi Police for entering the campus “without permission” and launching an “attack on students in the library,” Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar on Tuesday, 8 September, said that police are friendly to students and can handle issues in a ‘humanistic way’, reported The Indian Express.

Speaking at a webinar organised by JMI on “Discipline in Universities”, Akhtar added that police are ‘softer’ than before and hence are no longer dreaded by the students.

“Before, or after the problem, they are friends of the students…They know how to handle (the problem) in a more humanistic way. So they are no longer feared by students.”

Najma Akhtar, as quoted by <i>The Indian Express</i>

Other central universities which participated in the webinar included Jawaharlal Nehru University, Banaras Hindu University, Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Hamdard.

The Delhi police had entered Jamia on 5 December 2019 and rained lathis on students, especially those inside the library, allegedly to round up miscreants who had turned the ongoing anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in the city violent.

Similarly, students protesting the controversial citizenship law at Aligarh Muslim University, were lathi-charged by the Uttar Pradesh Police, who also fired teargas shells after clashing with them.

‘Keep Files, Segregate Students’

While Akhtar said that discipline does not mean irrational and illogical imposition of rules, Jamia Chief Proctor Waseem Ahmad Khan said that students who are not disciplined come with a different mindset and do not care about studies.

While Khan said that steps must be taken against students who portray deviant behaviour, Jamia Registrar AP Siddiqui said files should be kept on the antecedents of the few who create problems.

Reiterating Khan, AMU Chief Proctor Wasim Ali said that criminals and rowdy do not have any place in higher educational institutions and often come with a different mindset. He said that it is the prime duty of universities to segregate and marginalise such elements.

JNU Chief Proctor Dhananjay Singh expressed concern over what he felt were repeated attempts to launch political agendas from the varsity.