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Jamia Milia Islamia students were protesting against Israeli Participation in a Campus Event, when two of the protestors were allegedly manhandled and beaten up by the guards. No action has been taken against the guards, while the students have been served show-cause notices by the Proctor. 

On 5th and 6th October, the Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics at Jamia Milia Islamia University organised the ‘Global Health Zenith: Confluence-19’ on Medical Infrastructure Planning, with  Israel as the country partner.

Unhappy with this, a protest was called on 5th October, 2019, against this Israeli participation.

“We, the undersigned, appeal to the Faculty of Architecture and Ekistics at Jamia Millia Islamia University, to not have Israel as the country partner for the 2nd Global Health Zenith Confluence… If the university proceeds with the program in association with the Israeli embassy, it will be complicit in whitewashing Israel’s violation of Palestinian human rights and international law,” said the Joint Statement released by the students of the University.

At the protest, two students of Jamia Millia Islamia, Abudarta Khan, and Anas Jamal, have alleged they were manhandled by the university’s security guards. While the protest itself happened peacefully, after the protestors had dispersed, the two were allegedly isolated by the proctorial staff. They were, then, thrown into an official vehicle while being beaten and manhandled, and were locked inside the proctor’s office compound. “One person was being picked up by four guards. The Proctor himself pushed me inside the car,” said Abudarta Khan to DU Beat.

“They assaulted us physically. Our hair was pulled and phones were broken.” The students were then allegedly locked inside the proctor’s room. “Even inside the room, we were surrounded by 17 guards who pushed, slapped and kicked us. Our fellow protestors were outside and the same guards tried to snatch their placards,” added the student.

The rest of the protestors came back demanding that the two students be released, which led to a scuffle between them and the proctorial staff. A guard allegedly tried to intimidate a student following which he and other students near him were pushed and grappled by the guards.

The Press Release by the students says that in the discussion between the proctorial staff and the students, the Chief Proctor, Dr. Waseem Ahmad Khan, denied that the two students were forcibly detained or manhandled, and justified all the proctorial team’s actions by accusing the protestors of not taking permission for the protest. However, the students strongly demanded that action be taken against all the staff who had attacked the students. The proctor verbally agreed to conduct an inquiry into the incident and to allow two students to review CCTV footage of the site of the detention of the two students and the proctorial compound, so that the aggressors could be identified.

However, the Chief Proctor allegedly went back on his word and refused to let the students watch the CCTV footage of the site of the detention.

The students haven’t lodged a police complaint, as they were promised by their University administration that proper action would be taken against the guards after checking the CCTV footage. In a turn of events, the Chief Proctor has refused to take any action and has now served show-cause notices to six students, including the two who were forcibly detained, falsely accusing them of manhandling the security staff.

In conversation with Okhla Times, the Chief Proctor said, “ Students were not beaten by guards as being claimed by a few protesting students. On Thursday we called a few students and showed them the CCTV footage of the incident as we had promised them earlier and there was no such footage of university bulls manhandling students as claimed by them.”

But, according to the Press Release released by the students, “The chief proctor had also blatantly lied in a statement to Okhla Times news portal that a fair inquiry was conducted and that the students were allowed to see the footages of both the sites.”

Feature Image Credits: College Duniya

Satviki Sanjay

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