Students, teachers protest ‘police brutality’ in DU

A group of over 50 students and teachers gathered outside the Delhi University’s arts faculty on Tuesday to protest the cases filed by the Delhi Police against those who had opposed Narendra Modi’s visit on February 6.

A group of over 50 students and teachers gathered outside the Delhi University’s arts faculty on Tuesday to protest the cases filed by the Delhi Police against those who had opposed Narendra Modi’s visit on February 6.

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The protestors, in the presence of over 150 security personnel, visited several colleges in the north campus with placards and asked the police to withdraw “fictitious cases” they had lodged against the students.

The group, including teachers and students from Delhi University as well as Jawaharlal Nehru University, demanded that the Delhi Police aplogise for their brutality on February 6 and quash the “baseless and intimidatory” FIRs against 8 students and 1 teacher.

They asked the University administration to intervene and help its students instead of encouraging police presence in the campus.

The march was followed by a public meeting which was attended by a number of activists such as Kavita Krishnan, Shabnam Hashmi and Pratap Samal.

“There are close to 200 police personnel in the campus and they are not armed just with lathis but also with assault rifles, side-arms and machine-guns. They have charged me and eight students with rioting and using dangerous weapons on February 6. If only they would tell us what were the weapons we were carrying and give us some proof!” said PK Vijayan, who teaches English at the Hindu College.

The police, meanwhile, said they had lodged FIRs after deliberation and, if need be, will give the proof in court.

“We were there to control the law and order situation. We gave various warnings to the students but it was of no use. Tuesday’s protest was also done without submitting an undertaking to the police, which is mandatory,” a senior police official said.