Senior advocate Indira Jaising today requested the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the police action against students at Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University. The students were beaten up and teargassed while many had to be admitted to hospitals with broken limbs, she said in a special mention to the Chief Justice of India.
Chief Justice SA Bobde said the bench is ready to look into the matter provided there is no rioting.
Senior advocate Colin Gonsalves said he had witnessed students being admitted to hospitals with broken limbs.
Chief Justice Bobde said, “We are ready to take up the matter provided there is no environment of violence and rioting.”
The chief justice added, “If you want the court to intervene first stop all these activities and destroying public property.”
Justice Bobde asked both Jaising and Gonsalves to file a petition by tomorrow and then he will look into it.
He further added, “This is a law and order problem and there is not much that the court can do. If you are a student you do not have the right to take law and order in your hands.”
Indira Jaising requested the court to provide free medical aid on humanitarian grounds.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that he won’t reply to oral submissions.
The protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the capital turned violent on Sunday, with the South-East Delhi being the worst hit. The police say they entered the Jamia Millia campus late Sunday evening after students pelted stones at them from inside the campus.
However, Waseem Ahmed Khan, Chief Proctor, Jamia Millia Islamia University denied the allegation. He said, “The police entered the campus by force, no permission was given. Our staff and students were beaten up and forced to leave the campus.”
In an official statement, the university reiterated that the protest was not organised by students of Jamia Mllia. “The violent incidents occurred during the protest organised by the people of nearby areas and not JMI students,” it said.