DU students, teachers come out in support of Jamia

A day after the violence inside the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) campus, many students from Delhi University’s (DU’s) North Campus protested and boycotted semester

A day after the violence inside the Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) campus, many students from Delhi University’s (DU’s) North Campus protested and boycotted semester examinations on Monday. Students claimed that police manhandled them, a charge the force denied.

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Police said around 300 student protesters gathered outside the faculty of social science at around 8.30am. Around 150 police and paramilitary personnel were deployed in the campus to maintain law and order.

DU students who refused to sit the semester examinations and said that they were in solidarity with students from Jamia who were assaulted and detained. JMI vice-chancellor Najma Akhtar had earlier said that her students were not part of violent protests in south Delhi and that the police had entered her institute without permission.

Among those DU students who did not sit for the examinations, HT has learnt, were those from political science, psychology and history departments. However, the boycott was not total.

Veena Kukreja, head of DU’s department of political science, said that some students from her department boycotted the exam on Monday. “Most students had appeared in the exam. We will hold a meeting soon and decide what can be done in case of those who boycotted the exam,” she said. Heads of other departments refused to comment on the issue.

The protesting students outside the faculty of social science were from All India Students’ Association (AISA), Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS). There they called for the examination boycott and demanded justice for the students of Jamia.

At around noon, some members of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) allegedly manhandled the protesters. Protesters also alleged that the Delhi Police manhandled them in their attempt to disperse the protest.

Vikas, a first year MA Political Science student, said, “Whatever happened in Jamia on Sunday is highly condemnable. We decided to boycott the exam on Monday and requested other students join us. Many students joined us in our peaceful protest. However, Delhi police and members of the ABVP disrupted the protest and lathi-charged the students. Many of the protesters including I were injured. Police had also detained some students,” he said.

A final year political science student from IP College for women, Mudita, said that she was thrashed by a group of men and women from the ABVP. “They caught me and thrashed me badly. There were also some men involved. It happened on the campus despite policemen present around,” she said.

The students also shared videos of Delhi police personnel and ABVP members purportedly manhandling the protesters.

Deputy Commissioner of police (north) Monika Bhardwaj and ABVP state secretary Khatana, however, denied the allegations.

“None of our police personnel resorted to a lathicharge or any kind of violence in Delhi University. Also, Delhi police did not detain any student from the University,” Bhardwaj said.

Khatana said that ABVP members had reached the protest site after some students informed them that the protesters were not letting them take the exam. “The left-leaning students’ groups are trying to disrupt the environment of DU just like they did in Jamia and Aligarh Muslim University in the garb of their protest against the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA). We will not let them do that. When we tried to stop them from protesting they are levelling false allegations against us,” he said.

At around 1pm, protesters moved to DU’s arts faculty. Raising slogans against Delhi police and the Citizenship Amendment Act , the protesters were demanding action against the police officials allegedly involved in the clashes in Jamia on Sunday. “We will not let the government attack students like that,” said Kawalpreet Kaur, state president AISA.

The protest was also joined by some DU teachers. Abha Dev Habib, member of the DU Teachers’ Association (DUTA), said, “The government has turned universities into fortress. They are scared of students and teachers. The behaviour of the government towards students shows the country is in the wrong hands.”

At around 2:40pm, there was a verbal spat between ABVP members and those from other students’ organisations. Police had to intervene to control the situation. After several rounds of discussion, protesters agreed to vacate the site and moved to Jantar Mantar at around 3pm.

A police officer, who did not wish to be named, said that the students were asked to do so. “When students asked for transport, they were given with two buses,” said the officer.