Earlier this week, Delhi police detained over 30 students from outside Jamia Millia Islamia campus where they have been protesting for the reinstatement of a student union. Detainees alleged verbal and physical assault in detention buses, for which a complaint has been registered at PS Okhla Industrial Area.
There is heavy deployment of police personnel in the roads leading to the campus, including near hostel premises. Gate 7 of the campus, where the protesting students are camping, has been cordoned off and no entry is allowed into the university through any gates.
Students Recall Detention
“I was kicked into the bus, even though I was not resisting detention,” said Varkey Parakkl, a third year PhD scholar who was detained from the university’s centenary gate, which is 200 metres away from Gate 7.
“He kicked me so hard that I fell face down into the bus. After I was seated, another police officer took away my glasses and began questioning me. I have poor vision, and I could not understand why he would take my glasses. He then, entirely unprovoked, slapped me,” said Parakkl after being released from PS Okhla Industrial Area.
Students are questioning the scale of deployment and preventative measures for a student protest, asking why a curfew-like situation has been put in place. Multiple videos of police detaining and manhandling students on the road outside Gate 7 have surfaced.
“I was just leaving after offering namaz at the masjid, when police apprehended me. I asked them why I was being detained and even still was cooperating. But they put me on the bus and slapped me multiple times,” said Mohd. Zubair, a bachelor's student at the university. He claims that he was kept at Okhla Industrial Area Police Station for over 4 hours after he was picked up at 5:30 on Monday.
“I was picked up at around 5:30. They abused and punched me while carrying me into the bus,” said Kamran, another detained student, adding that about 10 personnel dragged him to the bus.
Parakkl claimed that a police officer routinely kicked every detainee into the bus. Detainees also allege that the police hurled vulgar abuses at them.
According to Advocate Saad Khan, who is part of a legal team that is working to help the detained students, a complaint was filed by the students being held at Okhla Industrial Area Police Station against the police assault.
"Among those detained on Monday, the female students claim they were detained after sundown and slapped by female officers," said Khan. Section 43(5), BNSS bars arresting a woman between sunset and sunrise, except in exceptional circumstances with a judicial magistrate’s prior permission.
Speaking to The Quint on condition of anonymity, a senior police official categorically refuted all claims of manhandling and assault. They called the claims “completely baseless” and added that the police only “dispersed the students, and did not detain women after sundown.”
Advocate Khan, however, alleged that many students, both male and female were kept at Okhla Industrial Area Police Station, until 9 PM, almost three hours after they were picked up from outside the campus.
The police source also stated that the students were picked up because Section 163 was in place.
There is a sense of unease among students owing to the degree of militarisation around their university space. Students mourn the loss of not only their access to educational facilities like classes and libraries, but for many the campus is also a space of socialisation outside of academic life.
“They are constantly eyeing everyone, and it’s scary to walk outside with such surveillance. Our parents keep telling us to go out in groups because it is so unsafe already, how are we supposed to move around now with Section 163 in place?” said a resident of an off-campus hostel of the university, on condition of anonymity.
For students protesting inside, the police presence has also brought back bitter memories of 2019 when Delhi Police stormed the campus and brutally beat up students during the CAA-NRC protests.
“We’re constantly afraid that there will be a crackdown and police will enter,” says Priyanka Roy, a student activist who’s on the protest site.
“They are detaining random people, they also detained a media person who was interviewing us,” she alleged.
Videos of students apprehending paramilitary personnel in civilian clothes entering campus have also been shared on social media, and students allege intimidation tactics from the Delhi Police around campus.
While reporting on October 26, when no formal intimation of BNSS 163 was in place, these reporters were also approached by the police and asked to get in a police bus. On resisting and inquiring about the reasons, the police backed off. However, a while later, a group of female police officers followed by male officers at a distance began tailing us, and intimidating us, stopping only when we were far away from the campus.
“People have not been sleeping since yesterday. Every single moment we’re scared of a crackdown,” says Roy.
“But we don't care, we will move only when our demands are met.”
(Mukaram Shakeel and Tulip Bannerjee are students of journalism at Jamia Millia Islamia)