Kicked on Private Parts, Tore off Clothes: Jamia Students Recollect Police Brutality on February 10

0
593

Afsal Rahman | India Tomorrow

NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 12— “‘Chalo tumhe Azadi de raha hoon’(Come, I will give you Azadi) shouted a policeman while dragging me into the police bus,” said an injured Abu Darda, a student at the Jamia Millia Islamia University who was allegedly attacked by the police force on February 10 and eventually detained and released later. He was addressing the media along with other injured students at a press conference organised by the Jamia Coordination Committee in the university campus on Wednesday.

“There were around 10 lines of Rapid Action Force before the barricade to stop the march. The Police targeted individuals. They tore off our clothes. Many of the officers who detained us were in civil dress. They even refused to provide us with water in the Police Station. They chased away our lawyers from the Station,” Abu Darda added.

Female students accused the forces of tearing off their clothes and kicking in their private parts causing serious injuries.

Chanda Yadav, another student protestor with a bandage on her hands alleged that the police force kicked her in her abdomen and beat on her hands. She was beaten by male policemen on the floor of the Police bus. Safoora Zargar, a Sociology student at the university said the Police refused their repeated requests for permission for the march. “On Feb 10, they had a different tactic. Instead of attacking us with visible impacts, they attacked us in such a way that the media and the public won’t be able to know of it,” she added.

Safoora told media that she was pulled down from the barricades by the Police force. Falling on from the barricades with head hitting the ground, the Policemen attacked her on the ground too. They stamped her with their boots. Safoora also told the media that she was surrounded by forces who were wearing riot gears and they refused any help even after she complained of suffocation.

Rafiya, also a student seriously injured and admitted in the Intensive Care Unit at the Al Shifa Hospital, accused the forces tore off her clothes including burqa. She said the police pulled her down from the barricades. The male policemen kicked her with their boots with other policemen around watching ensuring nobody else see it. “They stamped on my abdomen and private parts until I fell unconscious. I have been hospitalised for rib bone fracture,” she said

“You people are dangerous to the constitution, Go and die” – The policeman shouted at Zikra, another female protestor. She said the police stood with their boots on her thighs and kicked her.

The injured protestors also alleged that the Police asked the detained students to sit on the floor of the bus and attacked them so that no one from outside could see it. They also complained of a large presence of paramilitary forces like Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Rapid Action Force (RAF) with riot gears trying to suppress the peaceful protest.

Students under the banner of JCC had taken out a peaceful protest march towards the Parliament against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on Monday, the 10th of February, but police blocked the road and installed barricades and did not allow them to cross the university border.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here