‘Video not released by us’: Jamia distances itself from ‘police brutality’ footage

The administration of the Jamia Millia Islamia has clarified that protests against the CAA, NRC and NPA outside the university were being spearheaded by an organisation of its students and alumni.

The Jamia Millia Islamia university on Sunday distanced itself from a video posted online of alleged police brutality at the December 15 crackdown on the varsity’s students during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) .

A woman walks near a protest site against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), NRC and NPR , at Jamia Millia Islamia University, in New Delhi, on Friday, February 14, 2020.(Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

“It has come to our notice that some video with regard to police brutality in Dr Zakir Husain Library of the Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI) is in circulation. This is to clarify that the video has not been released by the university,” said a statement released by Jamia’s Media Coordinator Ahmad Azeem.

Clarifying that protests against the CAA, NRC and NPA outside the university were being spearheaded by an organisation of its students and alumni, the statement further added that a number of Twitter accounts,Facebook pages and other users on different social media platforms were using the university's name and creating confusion among the people.

“Jamia Coordination Committee which is actually a Joint Coordination Committee(JCC) of students and alumni of Jamia Millia Islamia(JMI) is spearheading the movement against CAA/NRC/NPA outside Gate No. 7 of the university on Maulana Mohammed Ali Jauhar Road. This is to clarify that JCC is not an official body of the university.

Any communication from JCC should not be taken as communication from the university.

A number of Twitter accounts, Facebook pages and other users on different social media platforms are using Jamia Millia Islamia’s name,creating confusion among the people.”

Jamia’s students claim that the Delhi police personnel entered the campus without permission and assaulted students. They claim that over 40 students, including girls, were injured in the police action that day when unsuspecting students in varsity’s library, bathrooms and also on the streets outside the campus, were assaulted by cops.

The 45-second-long video, posted on microblogging site Twitter on Sunday morning, purportedly shows police raining blows on students studying peacefully in the “Old Reading Hall” located on the first floor of the MA, M.Phil section of the university campus in South Delhi.

The Delhi Police has denied the allegations in the past and maintained that it was forced to evict the students from the library and other places inside the campus as nearly half a dozen policemen and fire service personnel received injuries due to stone pelting by the students and other miscreants. The cops had, however, categorically ruled out use of excessive force.

Jamia Proctor Waseem Khan said that the University administration has maintained from day one that the Delhi police had entered the library and attacked many students. He said that the administration had submitted the same CCTV video clip with many stakeholders as an evidence. “We can’t say what is the source of this leaked video. We have already given a copy of it to the police, MHRD officials, NHRC and our internal inquiry committee. It’s now police’s responsibility to find out the source,” he said.