Jamia panel releases video of police brutality in library

New Delhi: Two months after the alleged police brutality at the Jamia Millia Islamia, a new video has emerged purportedly showing paramilitary and police personnel thrashing students in the library on December 15, drawing sharp reactions from several quarters, including the Congress.

The police said they will investigate the video and two others, which appeared hours later and showed some youth with covered faces entering the library, as part of the ongoing probe into the December 15 incident.

The 48-second video, which appears to be CCTV footage and was released by the Jamia Coordinatio Committee (JCC), purportedly shows some seven to eight paramilitary and police personnel entering the Old Reading Hall and beating up students with batons. The paramilitary and police personnel are also seen covering their faces with handkerchiefs.

Special Commissioner of Police (Intelligence) Praveer Ranjan said the videos have come to their knowledge and they will investigate them as part of their ongoing probe.

Sources said the JCC had shared only a 48-second video in which only one side of the story was shown, but they did not show the videos in which the ‘rioters’ were seen coming inside the campus and some others were shielding them from police.

In the second clip, running around 5.25 minutes, people are purportedly seen entering the university’s library in a rush. Some have their face covered. As soon as they enter the library, those present inside the room can be seen pushing tables and chairs to block the main door. However, it does not have details of the timing and date of the incident.

In the third video, running into 2.13 minutes, people are seen in the gangway with some covering their faces, while at least two of them are carrying stones. The footage was captured roughly around 6.04 pm on December 15.

The first video was released by the JCC, a group comprising Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) students and alumni. The group was formed after the alleged police brutality on the campus on December 15. The university, however, clarified that the first video was not released by it.

The university, on December 15, had turned into a battlefield as police entered the campus to look for ‘outsiders’ who were reportedly involved in incidents of violence and arson a few metres away from the educational institute during a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. A law student of the university had alleged that he lost vision in one eye due to the police action.

The JCC said it received the video from an “anonymous” source. It also said the university has shared video footage of the police action in the library with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which is probing the episode.