Indian SC to hear Jamia, Aligarh University violence tomorrow

The Supreme Court in India will on Tuesday hear the incidents of violence at Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia University and Uttar Pradesh's Aligarh Muslim University following protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising had mentioned the Jamia and AMU incidents before a bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde.

Expressing concern over the incidents, Jaising asked the apex court to take suo motu cognisance of the issue saying it is a very serious human rights violation all over the country.

Chief Justice SA Bobde said the Supreme Court would not be bullied, and cannot be held to ransom while public properties are destroyed. He said that the court is not saying students are responsible or police are innocent.

The court observed that just being students, they can't take the law into their own hands, adding it would hear the matter on Tuesday if no violent protests take place.

"We are not against peaceful demonstrations but we can't allow people to go on streets, indulge in rioting," the court said.

"We know what are rights…What is this? Public properties are being destroyed. We will decide it in a cool frame of mind," said the Chief Justice to the lawyers.

"The only thing we want is that rioting must stop," the court added.

As senior advocate Colin Gonsalves urged the court to send a panel of retired judges to visit the Aligarh University, Justice Bobde responded: "We will do that. First, let there be peace. If protests and violence continue we will not hear it."

Protests erupted across various campuses in the country against police crackdown on the students of Jamia Millia Islamia University on Sunday, who were agitating against the new Citizenship Act.

The protest against Citizenship Act turned violent on Sunday in the evening in southeast Delhi's Mathura Road after the agitators resorted to arson and police used force practically turning the area into a war zone.

The Delhi Police has been accused of forcefully entering the university campus and beating up the students.

However, the Delhi Police has denied reports of entering the University campus in the wake of violent protests.

Delhi Commissioner of Police, Southeast Chinmoy Biswal, said that protesters were merely pushed back and that the police had not resorted to any kind of firing.

The students have claimed that they have not been involved in violence adding that it was done by some outsiders who want to disrupt the peace in the university and the locality around it.

Following police action at Jamia, protests also erupted at Aligarh Muslim University, Hyderabad's Moulana Azad National Urdu University, Banaras Hindu University and Nadwa College in Lucknow.

Copyright: The Statesman/Asia News Network