The NHRC recommended that the Delhi Government compensate the injured students and take appropriate action against the implicated police officers
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI – The Delhi High Court has sought a response from the Delhi Government regarding the recommendations made by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in its 2020 report on the violence at Jamia Millia Islamia in December 2019. The violence occurred during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
A division bench consisting of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Manoj Jain directed the Delhi Government to submit its response within two weeks. The bench also allowed the Delhi Police to file the original complaint lodged before the NHRC, along with other pertinent documents.
The court was addressing a plea filed by various students of Jamia Millia Islamia who claimed to have been attacked by the Delhi Police during the violence. Nabila Hasan, one of the petitioners and a law student at the time, had filed a complaint before the NHRC. The NHRC report labeled the protest as an “unlawful assembly,” justifying police action. It alleged that protesters engaged in violence, damaging public and private property, and hurling stones and petrol bombs at police officers.
The NHRC recommended that the Delhi Government compensate the injured students and take appropriate action against the implicated police officers.
During the recent hearing, Delhi Police’s SPP Rajat Nair informed the court that none of the alleged victims of violence could be presently traced. He stated that action and inquiries were initiated against the accused police officials, emphasizing that the police used “commensurate” force in response to the students’ violence.
The police argued that once the NHRC concluded its inquiry and provided recommendations, a similar plea in the High Court seeking relief cannot be entertained.
The court has scheduled the matter, along with other petitions related to the violence, for a hearing on March 14.
Responding to the plea, Delhi Police, last year, assured the court that CCTV footage from cameras inside and outside the university and the New Friends Colony area had been collected and preserved. The police contested Hasan’s prayer for the transfer of the investigation from Delhi Police to an independent agency, arguing that it seeks to expand the scope of the plea based on a “new cause of action.”
The Supreme Court, on October 19 last year, had urged the High Court to expedite the hearing, considering the prolonged pendency of the matter.