Plea in Delhi HC for release of Jamia students, locals 'detained' during protest

A plea was filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking the release of Jamia Milia University students and locals, who were detained during a protest against Citizen Amendment Act (CAA).

The plea also sought the court's direction to authorities concerned to provide medical care and monetary compensation to injured people as well as to set up a court-monitored committee headed by a retired High Court or Supreme Court Judge.

The committee should conduct a judicial inquiry into the acts of violence and arbitrary detentions by the Delhi Police and Paramilitary Forces in a time-bound manner, the plea said.

The plea, filed by Sneha Mukherjee and Siddharth Seem, also sought to quash all criminal proceedings initiated against students and to preserve the CCTV footage of all cameras in and around the universities.

The petitioners blamed the forces for using extreme, ruthless and excessive physical force and violence against unarmed and peaceful students. The plea also raised questions over the use of "extreme" measures such as tear gas shells, chilli-based explosives and rubber bullets against the protesters.

The petition also pointed out arbitrarily picking up and detaining peaceful students from the university library and denied them medical care, familial access, and legal assistance. It also mentioned forcibly entering security personnel in the students hostels and set fire to the rooms.

"Therefore, the petitioners prayed before the High Court to direct the government to declare on their website the full list with names of students and residents of Jamia Milia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University that were detained by state police and paramilitary forces. They also sought direction to provide detained persons access to their family members and to legal counsel," the petition said.

The petition has also sought to ensure the safety of all students within JMI university campuses and to ensure that no student is forced to leave the campuses.

Several protesters and policemen sustained injuries during a protest against the new citizenship law near the Jamia university campus on Sunday. At least three buses were set on fire and other public properties were also damaged in the protest.

However, the police have said that no student of the university was arrested.

( With inputs from ANI )