Centre Asks For Report On Ramjas College Protest, 3 Cops Suspended

New Delhi: Three constables were suspended for alleged excesses during Wednesday's protests at Ramjas College -- regarding which the Centre has also sought a report.The uproar over the invite to JNU's Umar Khalid today moved outside the Delhi Police headquarters, where hundreds of angry students gathered to demand that separate cases be filed on their complaints. The BJP-linked student group ABVP had clashed with other groups repeatedly last evening during protests outside the college and 20 students and at least one teacher had been injured.

The police have already filed a rioting case against students allegedly involved in the clashes. The students alleged that the police had rounded up some of them during Wednesday's protests and demand a separate case filed on that as well.  

"I have asked for a report from the University on the issue," Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters.

Advertisement

After  hours of protests outside the headquarters, a senior officer came out to talk to the students. But despite his explanation that in such cases only one FIR or First Information Report was enough to investigate the matter, the students continued with their demands. A day after police chief Amulya Patnaik earlier said, "We won't tolerate this," the police today admitted that excesses had also been committed during crowd control. The investigation will now be conducted by the Crime Branch instead of the local police.

The Delhi Police has also set up an inquiry into the "inappropriate and unprofessional action" of its personnel, said Joint Commissioner Dipendra Pathak. "We don't condone such action," he said, but also asked student protesters to make sure they stayed within the bounds of the law in future. "Senior officers have identified three constables, who are now under suspension," a spokesperson of the police told NDTV in the evening.

Advertisement

The AISA - All India Students' Association, whose representatives were mostly from the JNU - had alleged that the students of ABVP had gone on the offensive on Tuesday and Wednesday. They had allegedly broken chairs in the college, locked up AISA students and on Wednesday, beat up the group that was holding a demonstration demanding freedom of speech.

The ABVP contends those responsible for the violence were outsiders and their own members had sustained injured as well. The group had objected to the planned address by Umar Khalid -accused in a sedition case along with JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar -- calling his statements "anti-national".

Advertisement

Back at the Ramjas College, the classes were suspended for the day amid tension.