India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 25—A group of human rights activists led by former IAS officer Harsh Mander, in their fact-finding report on the violence and police action at the Aligarh Muslim University(AMU) released on Tuesday, have said that there were “unbridled human rights violations” by the police and the university administration failed in its duty “to protect the campus and its residents against brutality by Uttar Pradesh police”.
The report that was released to mediapersons at a press conference here, alleged that the police used stun grenades against students which was “usually used in war-like situations or terror operations”.
However, Aligarh SP(City) Abhishek, when asked by The Indian Express, denied the claims of the fact finding report. The police said that the violence was initiated by students and minimum force was used in self-defence. The SP said, “Police personnel might have used stun grenades…In terms of how many stun grenades were used…it can only be concluded after a probe. We have clippings of students throwing back tear gas shells. The stun grenades are not lethal and only produce sound impact which can be used to disperse crowd.
The report is based on anonymous testimonies of students, teachers and other present on the campus at the time of incident.
Harsh Mander (4th from left), John Dayal, Syeda Saiydain, Aruna Roy and others at release of fact-finding report on AMU violence at Constitution Club in New Delhi on Dec. 24, 2019.
The report titled as ‘The Siege of Aligarh Muslim University’ was released at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on Tuesday (Dec. 24).
The university authorities have, however, defended the use of stun grenades though a student who picked up one of the stun grenades and lost his hand. “The registrar justified the police action as both necessary and restrained and even spoke casually of the forces using stun grenades. These are devices to temporarily blind and deafen the enemy, known sometimes to cause injury and burst into flames. It is likely that this caused the student to lose his hand… and also possibly the fire in hostel rooms,” the report says.
The fact finding report quoted the students having alleged that the “the soldiers and police raised chilling slogans like Jai Shri Ram while attacking the students and set afire the vehicles in the university campus”.
The students, according to the report, also alleged that the police called them “aatankvadi” (terrorist)”.
The report says while the vice-chancellor claims to have invited the forces into the university, “but it is unclear why the police then broke the gate of the university”.
The incident took place on December 15, when a group of students gathered at the university gate to protest against the police action in Jamia Millia Islamia.
Aligarh SSP Akash Kulhary, however, denied claims of the fact finding report. Kulhary accused the students of having initiated the violence and the police using minimum force to disperse students.
“It is factually wrong that stun grenades are used in war-like situations as they are used to disperse crowds. In war-like situation, the Army uses grenades,” SSP told media.
