Delhi:In a video sourced from a CCTV camera installed at the Old Reading Hall in Delhi's Jamia Milia Islamia, police can be seen storming into the library and indiscriminately beating students up with batons.
The unsuspecting students can be seen studying as policemen in their riot gear start hitting them. The students can, eventually, be seen running for cover while securing their notes.
The video was tweeted by Jamia Coordination Committee, a group associated with the students of the University, on Saturday.
The 44-second footage shows that the video was recorded on 15-12-2019, the same day when violence had broken out in the area close to the institution during an anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protest march by the Jamia students.
The police were accused of forcing their way into the varsity campus without taking permission from the authorities concerned and using excessive force to quell peaceful demonstrations.
Jamia CCTV footage shows police assaulting students in library on Dec 15
The police, in turn, accused the students of burning public buses while denying excess.
Mohammad Minajuddin, a 26-year-old LLM student from Jamia, had permanently lost sight in an eye after sustaining injury in the same incident.
Mohammad Minajuddin, student of Jamia Milia Islamia who lost sight in an eyeafter sustaining injury in the same incident
"What was my fault? I was studying in the old library in a reading room reserved for MPhil and PhD students. We had locked it after learning that police entered the campus, but they barged inside and started baton charging students," he recalled.
Minhajuddin said students pleaded with the police saying they were not involved in the protest against the amended Citizenship Act but they did not pay heed.
"They deliberately entered the library. The protest was happening outside Gate Number 7 which is on the other side of the road. I had not participated in the protest but I was hit brutally," he claimed.
He also sustained a fracture on one of his fingers.
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"I have not been to the campus after the incident, I am scared. I will never be able to enter the library without fear. I do not feel safe on my campus," he added.
The police action was followed by widespread condemnation and protests across university campuses in the country.
(With inputs from PTI)
