Jinnah Portrait Row: AMU Students Protest Violence, to Approach HC

The AMU Students’ Union has reportedly decided to approach court against the local administration and police.

AMU stage a dharna in protest over the violence. 

(Photo Courtesy: Facebook/Sharjeel Usmani)

A day after over 20 students were injured in clashes with ABVP members at the Aligarh Muslim University, the students of the university staged a dharna amid tight security in protest of the violence.

Meanwhile, the teachers’ association at the university – AMUTA – has written to the district administration, demanding that an FIR be filed against the perpetrators of 2 May’s violence.

The students’ union, at a general body meeting, has also reportedly decided to file a petition against the district administration and the police, for their lack of action, at the Allahabad High Court.

Meanwhile, according to News18, the District Magistrate in Aligarh has ordered an inquiry into how ABVP members might have entered the campus, as well as the alleged role of the police in the clashes.

Violence broke out at the Aligarh Muslim University on 2 May after the right-wing protestors barged into the varsity demanding removal of the portrait of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s founder, handing in the student union’s office inside the campus.

The police had reportedly lobbed teargas shells to disperse the AMU students who had gathered to demand the arrest of protesters who had barged into the campus shouting slogans.

The AMU Students' Union (AMUSU), however, alleged that violence on the campus was a "deliberate and pre-planned attempt" to attack former vice president Hamid Ansari, who was at that time barely 100 metres away at the university guest house, from where the violence erupted. Ansari was at the university to deliver a lecture and receive life membership of the students’ council.

Our protest will continue till the police takes action against those who were actually targeting the former vice president who had come to the AMU, where he was to be granted a life membership of the students’ union.

AMUSU said in a statement

While three students who sustained serious injuries were admitted at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College, the rest of the injured students were discharged after first-aid, reported PTI.

According to a hospital official, all the three students are out of danger and recovering.

Meanwhile, the AMUTA blamed the police for its "glaring security breach" for allowing "armed goons" to reach a spot which was just adjoining the university guest house where the former vice president was staying