A plea was filed in the Delhi High Court on Tuesday seeking direction to release the students and residents of Jamia Milia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University who were allegedly detained by the police and paramilitary forces during the Citizenship (Amendment) Act protests.
The petition, filed by a lawyer and two students of JMI here, is likely to come up for hearing before the court on Wednesday.
The petition, which has arrayed the Central government and Delhi Police as parties, sought direction to the authorities to release all the students and residents who were allegedly detained.
The petition, filed by lawyer Nabila Hasan and JMI students Ladida Farzana and Ayesh Renna, sought that instant and quality medical care be provided to the students and staff who were detained and injured during the violence.
The plea was filed in the high court in pursuance to the Supreme Court's directive asking the petitioners to approach the high courts in respective states, where the incidents of violence have occurred, for redressal of their grievances and the setting up of inquiry committees.
It sought direction to the authorities to declare on their website the full list with names of students and residents of JMI University and AMU who were allegedly detained by state police and paramilitary forces.
It also sought direction to the authorities to provide detained persons access to their family members and legal counsel.
The plea, filed through advocates Sneha Mukherjee and Siddharth Seem, also sought direction to "immediately cease the violence being inflicted on to the students and residents of the two universities" and to quash the criminal proceedings, if any, initiated against the students.
It further sought direction to preserve the CCTV footage of all cameras in and around the universities and also to provide monetary compensation to the persons who were detained or injured by the police and paramilitary forces.
The petition sought direction to the authorities to "set up a court-monitored committee headed by a retired high court or Supreme Court judge that shall conduct judicial inquiry into the acts of violence and arbitrary detentions by the state police and paramilitary forces in a time bound manner".
It said that authorities be directed to ensure the safety of students within the JMI campus and that no student be forced to leave the campus, and the university be reopened.
On Monday, another PIL was filed in the high court against the police action on students protesting against the amended Citizenship Act at the JMI University. It is yet to come up for hearing.
The plea moved by Rizwan, a lawyer and also a resident of Jamia Nagar close to the varsity, has claimed that on December 15 while students and members of the teachers' association of JMI university were observing a peaceful protest, the police broke into the campus, used tear gas and also lathi-charged the protestors.
The protestors had torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with police in New Friends' Colony near Jamia university during a demonstration against the amended Citizenship Act, leaving six cops and two firemen injured, officials have said.
The trouble started during a protest by JMI students.
But a students' body later said they had nothing to do with the violence and arson and alleged that "certain elements" had joined in and "disrupted" the demonstration.
Soon after the violence, JMI Chief Proctor Waseem Ahmed Khan had claimed that the Delhi Police entered the campus forcibly without any permission and beat up staff members and students who were then forced to leave the campus.
Condemning the police action, university Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar had said students who were inside the library have been taken out and are safe.
According to the amended Citizenship Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and face religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
President Ram Nath Kovind had given assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on December 12 night, turning it into an Act.
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