Scores of Jamia Millia Islamia students staged a protest on campus on Saturday night alleging that ‘surprise checks’ were made by Delhi Police in their hostels. Proctor Mehtab Alam confirmed that the police did not have any “permission” from the campus authorities, even as the police said that it was just a “meeting between the police and the proctor” and refuted the allegations of “raids” as baseless.
“We were treated like criminals, says one student of Jamia as he goes on to describe the “raid” carried out by police and says, “It is outrageous and we were asked to stay inside our rooms, not to let any Kashmiri student in, this is my fourth year in Jamia hostel and event though last year on 26 January too some specific rooms were checked, but this is the worst by far. We were made to feel like criminals and why are no other universities being checked, Is Jamia such a soft target?”
As reported by a student, “The police was seen around the campus at 3:30 am and we saw some commotion at the Allama Iqbal Hostel for boys and we saw that the police were taking videos and pictures of the students. When they proceeded to other hostels, we followed them and the provost came and stopped us. How can they just enter the campus?”
Statement on Delhi Police entering Jamia Milia Islamia with the intention of raiding hostels without permission. pic.twitter.com/7P1KTJWnDD
— NSUI (@nsui) August 13, 2016
As the constitutional rights of the students were being violated, the students gheraoed the chief proctor Mehtab Alam’s office and shouted slogans. Later Alam clarified the entire situation and revealed that the police did not have any permission. This is not the first time such an incident has happened in the campus and students repeatedly cite incidents where their rights in the hostels have been violated, as in a shocking instance a notice is publicly dated at the campus proclaiming that “educational institutions like Jamia in particular are “soft targets” for militant and separatists.
