Delhi HC Seeks Reply From Centre, Police on Jamia Library Violence

The court issued notice after the CCTV footage from the library was brought to its attention.

Armed policemen enter the reading hall and beat up students.

(Photo Courtesy: Screenshot of CCTV footage released by Jamia Coordination Committee)

The Delhi High Court on Monday, 17 February, issued notice in a petition filed asking for compensation for a student who was injured, allegedly during the police action on Jamia Millia Islamia University back in December 2019.

The court has asked the Centre and the Delhi Police to respond to the claims made in the petition, after the CCTV footage showing the Delhi Police beating students in the library was brought to the judges’ notice. The case will next be heard on 27 March.

The plea was filed by a student named Shayaan Mujeeb, who was sitting in the library at Jamia on the evening of 15 December 2019, when the Delhi Police entered the campus following anti-CAA protests by students from the university. The plea alleges that the police broke down the doors and barged into the library and started hitting students including Mujeeb.

Mujeeb says both his legs were fractured during this attack, with a metal rod required to be inserted in his right leg. According to his petition, he has had to spend Rs 2.5 lakh on treatment and other expenses arising out of the incident.

As a result, he approached the high court asking it to direct payment of compensation of Rs 2 crores to him, including interim compensation of Rs 25 lakhs and reimbursement of related future medical expenses. He has submitted MLCs, discharge summaries and photographs to demonstrate the severity of the injuries.

The petition also asks for the registration of an FIR against the policemen involved in the events of that night.

When the matter came up for hearing on Monday, the Delhi High Court was initially reluctant to take up the plea as an isolated case. Mujeeb’s lawyer, advocate Nabila Hasan then mentioned the CCTV footage that allegedly showed the police ‘brutally beating’ students in the library.

The lawyers representing the Centre and police denied the allegations made by Mujeeb and the claims of police brutality based on the CCTV footage. After some arguments, the high court finally decided it would take their responses on record, and issued notice as a result.

CCTV Footage Causes Controversy

A war of words broke out between the Delhi Police and students of Jamia Milia Islamia University on Sunday, 16 February, after the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) on Saturday released CCTV footage which they claim is from 15 December 2019 when the Delhi Police had entered their campus after protests against the CAA-NRC turned violent.

Soon after the JCC released the footage, the Delhi Police released new CCTV footage showing students purportedly entering the Old Reading Hall in the MA/MPhil Department of the university and carrying stones in their hands.

In the footage, the students can be seen barricading the door shut with tables.

However, The Quint has accessed the full CCTV footage which shows students locked up in the reading hall and pleading to be let out.

The Delhi Police can be seen entering the hall and throwing tables and chairs away. While the students were locked up, the police can be seen thrashing the students on both the sides of the door.

JCC’s video showed armed policemen entering a hall and thrashing students who were seen studying there.

Meanwhile, the university has denied releasing the CCTV footage and said that JCC is “not an official body.”

On 15 December, several Jamia students from the old reading hall, had shared SOS videos and messages and claimed that the police had entered the room, thrashed students and shelled tear gas on them.