How A UP Cop Used Tact To Handle AMU Student Protests On Citizenship Act

On a day when there were pitched battles between students of Delhi's Jamia Millia University and Delhi Police over a protest on the amended Citizenship Act , a similar protest in Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh town , home to the prestigious Aligarh Muslim University, passed off peacefully due to some tact from the police and a hands-on approach by the town's police chief.

Over 5,000 students of the university had planned a protest march on Friday from the university campus to the office of the District Magistrate, about a kilometer away, over the amended Citizenship Act. The police had refused to allow the march saying the assembly of crowds had been disallowed in the district.

The marching students were stopped at the gates of the university by a massive contingent of the police but before things could get out of hand, police chief Akash Kulhary used a microphone and a portable speaker to address the crowd.

' aap democratic tareeke se protest kariye main din bhar khada rahoonga aapke saath'-This is @aligarhpolice chief Akash Kulhary on Fri ,as he managed a protest by AMU students .It's so rare to see a @Uppolice cop try to handle such a matter sensitively that one must put it out.. pic.twitter.com/cEnqQCuS2M

— Alok Pandey (@alok_pandey) December 15, 2019

In a minute-long clip from Friday, Mr Kulhary can be heard telling the students that they have a right to protest democratically

"You can protest democratic way. I will stand with you all day," Mr Kulhary can be seen telling the students in Hindi.

"But if you misbehave, you will give others an opportunity to break up the protest. Yesterday, the union protested. None of us interfered. Today, you want to give a memorandum to the president. I assure you, even if I, Akash Kukhary, have to personally go, I will ensure your memorandum reached the president," Mr Kulhary also told the students.

The protesting students later handed over the memorandum to the District Magistrate and dispersed, vowing to continue the protest. Violence, however, was avoided on the day.