Delhi High court issues notice to Centre, no interim direction.

Source – livemint.com

NEW DELHI : Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to Centre, Delhi government and Delhi Police and asked them to file affidavits on pleas seeking to appoint a fact finding committee to inquire into the police action against the Jamia Milia Islamia university students.

A bench headed by Chief Justice DN Patel refused to grant an interim direction on request of no coercive action against the students. The court will now hear the matter on 4 February.

Senior advocates Indira Jaisingh, Colin Gonsalves, Sanjay Hegde, Hariharan, Salman Khurshid and Sanjay Hegde put forth their submissions on behalf of the petitioners.

“The issue before us is how to reach a balance between peaceful protests and to secure law and order. All colleges and universities in the country should be protected from police entry or if they enter then they should not carry fire arms.” Said Senior advocate Indira Jaisingh. Senior advocate Hariharan further argued that no warning was issued by the police before taking the violent action against the students. If students studying in the library are attacked, this court needs to take some action. Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde said that a commission should be appointed to look into the matter and said judicial notice should be taken of the fact that the situation is still not normal.

The six petitions moved by lawyers, students, residents and Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid have also sought medical treatment, compensation and interim protection from arrest for the students.

One of the petitions filed by petitioner Rizwan said that Delhi Police had used “arbitrary, excessive, discriminatory, and illegal force against the students, particularly female students of Jamia Millia Islamia, on the false pretext of restoring law and order”.

Students who were protesting and exercising their fundamental rights were, according to “various accounts by the students and multiple videos readily available” mercilessly beaten, abused, and subjected to racial and derogatory comments, while tear gas shells were fired at the students and they were lathicharged indiscriminately, the petition said. The petition sought the appointment of a fact-finding committee and seeks a direction that no coercive steps should be taken with regard to the FIRs registered against the students till the committee submits its report. It also seeks a direction to the police not to enter the university premises without the permission of the authorities.

Defying unprecedented prohibitory orders across regions, simultaneous protests broke out on Thursday in multiple cities against the citizenship amendment act prompting authorities to detain a large number of activists and students and clamp down on mobile services in parts of the national capital and other states.