Jamia students release video of policemen attacking students in library

The Jamia Coordination Committee, which is a group of students and alumni from Delhi’s Jamia Millia University, has released a two-month-old video on social media showing policemen baton-charging students in the university’s library when protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act turned violent at the campus.

The 49-second video shows a few students sitting in a reading room. Suddenly, policemen dressed in riot gear are seen barging into the library and thrashing the students with batons. Students immediately start running in all directions for cover.

Exclusive CCTV Footage of Police Brutality in Old Reading Hall, First floor-M.A/M.Phill Section on
15/12/2019
Shame on you @DelhiPolice @ndtvindia @ttindia @tehseenp @RanaAyyub @Mdzeeshanayyub @ReallySwara @ANI @CNN @ReutersIndia @AltNews @BBCHindi @the_hindu @TheQuint @BDUTT pic.twitter.com/q2Z9Xq7lxv

— Jamia Coordination Committee (@Jamia_JCC) February 15, 2020

The video has come to the police’s knowledge and they will investigate it as part of their ongoing probe, Special Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) Praveer Ranjan said.

A protest march at the Jamia Millia University had turned violent on December 15 when the students clashed with policemen, with the latter resorting to tear gas and baton-charge to bring the situation under control. The policemen later entered the campus by force and detained more than 100 students.

The Delhi police had responded at that time to the allegations of entering the campus by force and unnecessary violence against students by claiming they had “only acted to control the situation.”

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On the other hand, the students of Jamia had said in a statement, “We have time and again maintained that our protests are peaceful and non-violent,” according to NDTV.

However, a few police officers who wished to remain anonymous admitted to NDTV that local thugs were responsible for the violence at Jamia that night.

Shah, police lied about students not being beaten: Priyanka

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shared a video purportedly showing Jamia students being beaten up by police and said if no action is taken, the government’s intentions would stand exposed.

She also accused the Home Minister and the Delhi Police of “lying” that Jamia students were not beaten up inside the library. “Look at how Delhi Police is blindly assaulting students in the library. A boy is flashing his book but the policeman is continuing to attack him with batons,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

..इस वीडियो को देखने के बाद जामिया में हुई हिंसा को लेकर अगर किसी पर एक्शन नहीं लिया जाता तो सरकर की नीयत पूरी तरह से देश के सामने आ जाएगी। 2/2

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) February 16, 2020

“Home Minister and Delhi Police lied when they said students were not beaten up in the library,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.

“If no action is taken even after watching this Jamia video, the government’s intentions would stand exposed before the whole country,” she said.