Jamia has claimed that some locals who joined the protest were responsible for the violence.
Highlights
- The university said cops entered campus by force, assaulted the students
- Rules require the police to take permission from university authorities
- Many students were rounded up, placed under detention
Minutes after Delhi Police rounded up scores of students from Jamia Millia Islamia following Sunday evening's violence, the university said the police entered the campus by force and assaulted the students. The police said they were just doing the needful to bring the situation under control. Rules require the police to take permission from the university authorities before entering a campus.
The hour-long pitched battle between a mob and the police had followed a protest march held by the students against the new citizenship law. By the end of it, at least three buses and more than a hundred two-wheelers were set ablaze and the police used batons and teargas to bring the situation under control.
Later in the evening, the police had rounded up the students and placed them under detention. A student claimed that some of the students were picked up from the library. After hours in detention, the students were released around 3:30 am.
"The police have entered the campus by force, no permission was given. Our staff and students are being beaten up and forced to leave the campus," Waseem Ahmed Khan, Chief Proctor of the university, told journalists.
"We only acted to control situation after violence," news agency ANI quoted senior police officer Chinmaya Biswal as saying. "Our only interest is to push the mob back, so law and order can be restored in the area. We have no problem with university (Jamia Millia Islamia University) students," he added.
Pointing to the layout of the university, which does not have a closed campus, the officer said when the mob was being pushed back, the police gave chase to check where they had hidden.
The university has claimed that some locals who joined the protest march were responsible for the violence. Jamia Vice Chancellor Najma Akhta told NDTV that some members of the public "from the main road that divides the university campus into two may have joined the protest".
In a statement released shortly after the violence, the students said, "We have time and again maintained our protests are peaceful and non-violent. We stand by this approach and condemn any party involved in violence".
The violence "by certain elements" was an attempt to vilify and discredit genuine protests, they said.