Who is right- Police or Jamia Students in the Jamia Video War
Jamia Coordination Committee released the video on Saturday showing the police brutality in Old Reading Hall on 15th December 2019. The incident which had almost faded away from the eyes of watchdogs has come back in limelight again. Since Saturday, some other videos showing the brutality of Delhi police are doing rounds on social media.
https://twitter.com/Jamia_JCC/status/1228772837583753216
Another CCTV footage of the police violence on students inside reading hall of #JamiaMilliaIslamia on December 15, 2019. pic.twitter.com/5zt6AhIiHX
— Jamia Millia Islamia (@jamiamillia_) February 17, 2020
After the video started denting the image of Delhi police, a video clip was released as damage control showing footage of one person entering the reading hall with stone in hand.
New CCTV ftg shows #JamiaMilliaIslamia students in a panic stricken state
It's NO secret-students locked themselves in library & washrooms, had made SOS calls when they learnt cops entered library on ground floor.
Why should this be used against them?
— Zeba Warsi (@Zebaism) February 16, 2020
People who are with Jamia students are spreading the police brutality videos and people who are supporting the Delhi police are spreading the other video. But certainly, a Jamia video war has hit the social media, especially Twitter and Facebook.
On 15th December when students of Jamia alleged that Delhi police entered the college campus and started beating anyone and everyone, many of us didn’t believe. Police clarified that they entered the campus because there was no other way to stop the stone-pelters, as they had entered the Jamia Campus.
What all had happened?
Even though some anti-social elements (including the students) entered the campus with stones in hand, as the video clip shows, nothing gives police a right to hit each and every student that comes their way and also destroy the college property. If there was violence by students or outsiders, they should have been identified and then arrested. Nothing could justify the mass-attack and property damage in a reading hall. These incidents don’t just put fear in the minds of students who are currently studying in Jamia but also in those students who wish to take admission in future.
Police entering the college campus without the permission of University is a topic of debate. The same Delhi police that entered the Jamia campus to stop violence waited at the gate of JNU Campus because they had no permission. The only difference is – ABVP, a right-wing student union was allegedly vandalizing and creating ruckus in JNU campus.
Read more: Cull or Not to Cull? Take a look at Most Talked ‘Animal Culling Incidents’
What does the rule say?
The University Grant commission’s 2016 guidelines on safety of students inside and outside the campus don’t restrict the police from entering a university campus. Police seeking permission from the university is mere an understanding between the police and the college authority.
Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) allows the police to make arrests with or without a warrant from a magistrate. Generally, Section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Code grants the police to make arrests. Section 46 of CrPC grants permission to use force to arrest a person who forcibly resists police action. Similarly, Sections 47 and 48 of the CrPC allows police to “pursue such person into any place in India” who the police have the reason to believe that the person has entered or is hiding in any place.
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