JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA
New Delhi, India
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DELHI POLICE BRUTALLY ASSAULTS JMI STUDENTS |
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JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA
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In yet another gory act of Vandalism and brutality, the police force bludgeoned hundreds of innocent students of JAMIA MILLIA ISLAMIA on the night of 9th April 2000, highlighting the prejudiced and biased attitude of the government towards Muslim Universities in general, and Muslims in particular. According to several eyewitnesses, a large contingent of police force barged into the Central library, SRK Hostel, Pink House, White house and Sartaj Hostel, where hundreds of students were engaged in serious preparations for their ongoing annual examinations. Within a few moments, the peaceful atmosphere was transformed, as this craven bunch of policemen pounded upon the hapless students who ran helter-skelter. The police force used all its brutal might to thrash any student they encountered with lathis, and whatever other potent objects they could use. The fact that the entire operation was pre-planned, could be judged from the fact that a part of the police force was engaged in sealing the exit points of the campus, to take out their grudge against the university. The majority of students present were severely assaulted on their heads and other parts of the body, even as they ran haywire with no route to escape. The intensity of the spell of terror let loose by the police could be seen in the university hostels, where innocent students were dragged out of their rooms and thrashed on by one. The doors of the rooms and the toilets which were bolted by the terrorized students were broken and the police showed no mercy. Such was the nature of this inhumane act that a few students jumped from the second and third floors of the SRK hostel to escape from this communal pack of hounds. In the end scores of students were left injured, some of them seriously, while many other students (200-250) were arrested for further ill-treatment. The whole exercise gave the impression as though the people sitting in the library and hostels were not students, but hardcore militants and ISI agents and the police had to settle some score. The dastardly act did not stop here, it was merely a beginning. The arrested students taken to various police stations were identified on the basis of their religion and the treatment was meted out to them accordingly. In the Srinivaspuri police station, the Muslim students were separated out and flayed with iron rods, and if any one of them happened to have a beard an enormous thrashing was in store. For these hapless chosen few, some policemen were especially ordered to carry out their act of castigation. These boys were beaten mercilessly, and were repeatedly threatened with dire consequences. In one instance, a policeman pulled the bread of a student and mocked "Where is your Allah? Call your Allah for help. You ISI agents! Say Nare-Takbeer Allaho-Akbar." Photographs and thumb impressions of students were taken as though they were some notorious criminals and all the students were formally charged for god knows what. Some students were later shifted to the Tihar Jail. It has been revealed by the students who were released form the police-stations after 24-hours of arrest that food was not given for the entire time, they were in the custody. A few gulps of water was what they got. They also revealed that the 66 students shifted to the Tihar Jail were the one's who were greviously assaulted in the police-stations. Out of these 11 are brutally disabled. And four are on the verge of death. This was done as an attempt on the part of the police so that their acts don't go public. The students in Tihar have not been released so far. How dare can the government talk of democracy and secularism when these sought of incidents keep happening from time to time. All the facts notwithstanding, one question remains to be answered. How dare the police force storm the university campus, without the permission from the university. Would have the police force acted in the same way, had it been some other university. The answer is a simple "NO"!. Jamia Millia Islamia was attacked simply because it is a Muslim university, and the policemen enjoy each wound they inflict on Muslims, to satisfy their communal passions. We, the students of Jamia, urge the government and other concerned citizens of this country to bring to the book all the police personnel involved in this savage attack. Even a punishment like termination from jobs is far from justice. These dastards have not only inflicted serious injuries but also caused severe mental trauma which will haunt the students for long. These criminals in uniforms have played with the career of the students, their dreams and aspirations. All the students affected should be compensated as soon as possible. We only want justice, nothing more. Otherwise we will lose whatever little faith left we have in our so called democratic and secular country. Help us fight and save the careers of innocent students.
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