Jamia Files Police Complaint Against Two Congress MPs, Alleges Trespass During Student Protest
Jamia Millia Islamia has filed a complaint with the Delhi Police against Congress Lok Sabha MP Imran Masood, Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi and others, accusing them of trespassing on the campus and inciting unrest during a student agitation for the restoration of the university's students' union.
A university official confirmed the complaint on Sunday. The Delhi Police has not responded to the complaint, or to allegations that several students were detained outside Gate 7 of the campus in south Delhi.
The Students' Federation of India (SFI), which is supporting the agitation, said hundreds of police personnel detained students outside Gate 7. In a social media post, the organisation described the situation as a crackdown on students.
The protest, which began nearly two weeks ago, is for the restoration of the Jamia Millia Islamia Students' Union (JMISU). Elections to the union have not been held since 2006. Four students have been on a hunger strike for 13 days, and PhD scholar Sanam has been sitting in at the Gulistan-e-Ghalib lawns, according to the SFI.
On Saturday, the university shifted classes online, citing security concerns, and asked students to avoid visiting the campus. Its gates and libraries will remain closed until further notice. The same day, the university said, more than 1,500 teaching and non-teaching staff, along with Vice-Chancellor Mazhar Asif and Registrar Md Mahtab Alam Rizvi, marched from the Ansari Auditorium lawns to Gate 7 to persuade the protesting students to call off their agitation. The staff made repeated appeals over nearly two hours, the university said, but the protesters refused to vacate the site.
The two sides have given sharply differing accounts of what followed. The SFI's Jamia unit alleged that the proctor, the registrar and the security adviser tried to remove the hunger strikers, dismantled their tents and dragged women students. The university administration alleged that some students pushed security guards and teachers.
A student said there was heavy police deployment outside the campus, with students being stopped from entering and some being detained.
The university has said that a seven-member committee of professors has held four rounds of talks with the students. It notified a JMISU Constitution Draft Committee on October 21 and promised to review disciplinary action taken or initiated against students over a protest on October 12.
The SFI has demanded that students be included in the constitution-drafting committee, that election dates be announced in the current semester, and that all disciplinary action against protesters be revoked. It has also sought the resignation of the chief proctor and security adviser over the alleged use of force against students.
The university has maintained that Gate 18 is the designated site for protests and that the agitation at the Gulistan-e-Ghalib lawns was an unauthorised occupation.
The complaint naming two sitting MPs widens a standoff that has already seen classes moved online, campus gates shut and a large police presence around the university. This report is based on statements issued by the university administration and the SFI; independent verification of the competing accounts of Saturday's events was not immediately available.
