Interim protection will not be given to protesting Jamia Millia Islamia students, the Delhi High Court said today in response to a clutch of petitions filed regarding Sunday’s violence. Several students were allegedly injured during the police crackdown at the university on Sunday evening. Several pleas sought medical treatment as well as compensation for the injured students.
Any interim relief will not be given to student protesters from any coercive action, including arrest. As the order was read out, lawyers who were present in the court chanted “shame, shame”.
The court, which was hearing petitions requesting the formation of a judicial commission to investigate the violence at the Jamia Millia Islamia on Sunday, has issued notice to the Centre, Delhi government and the police.
The national capital turned into a war zone after students of Jamia Millia Islamia in south Delhi carried out a protest march against the citizenship law and ended in violence on Sunday evening. At least three buses and over a hundred two-wheelers were set ablaze, batons and teargas were used and the police were seen chasing protesters through the streets.
Nearly 100 students of Jamia, who had distanced themselves from the violence were detained, while senior officers of the Delhi Police privately admitted local miscreants hijacked the march, setting vehicles ablaze and pelting stones at police when they tried to stop their protest march to Jantar Mantar.