2019 Jamia violence: Delhi High Court seeks NHRC inquiry report

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the Delhi Police to submit the inquiry report by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) into the 2019 Jamia Millia Islamia violence case in which police personnel had entered the Jamia campus in Delhi and had allegedly beat up students who were protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). .The direction was passed after Senior Advocate Indira Jaising told the Court that the Delhi Police personnel entered the campus without the Vice-Chancellor’s permission and beat up students brutally causing near-fatal injuriesJaising told a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh that the Jamia Vice-Chancellor (VC) has stated that the police did not seek any permission before entering the university and, therefore, it amounted to trespass.“Their (Police’s) entry was completely unauthorised, had no backing of law and use of force even inside and outside the University was wholly disproportionate. There is an admission on record that they did not seek the permission of the VC, therefore, it becomes a case of trespass,” she said. .The Senior Advocate was appearing for one of the petitioners seeking action against Delhi Police officials for allegedly thrashing the students who were protesting peacefully. Jamia was engulfed in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in late 2019. Many students had organised a protest march to the parliament when Delhi Police officers allegedly entered the University campus and library without permission and thrashed the students.Several petitions were then filed in the Delhi High Court seeking action against the Delhi Police for its alleged role. These petitions have sought a court-monitored inquiry and registration of FIR against Delhi Police officials. These pleas have been pending before the High Court for nearly three years and even though arguments had almost concluded in the matters, they were later released from the ‘part heard’ category.In October 2022, the Supreme Court requested the High Court to decide the pleas soon. After this, the matters were transferred from the Court of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma to the bench headed by Justice Mridul..Jaising said that in the present case, the Court would have to deal with the issue of disproportionate use of force by the police when they are dealing with protests and trying to control a situation.She also referred to the George Floyd case where a Black American man was killed by police in Minneapolis during an arrest. The incident had sparked widespread protests across the world.The bench responded that if the petitioner wants the court to look at the George Floyd case, it will look into it but even the Indian courts have developed enough jurisprudence on the issue.“We can assure you that courts in India have generated enough jurisprudence on excessive use of force. If you invite our attention to the George Floyd case, we will look into that as well. But we can assure you that there is enough jurisprudence on the issue not only by the Supreme Court but even this court and several others courts as well,” Justice Mridul remarked..Meanwhile, Advocate Rajat Nair appeared for the Delhi Police and said that the petitioners before the court are third-party strangers and interlopers with no connection to the incident.“They are not the aggrieved persons or alleged victims,” he said.Nair further stated that the prayers made by the petitioners stand satisfied since the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has already conducted an inquiry and returned its finding.However, Jaising contended that even if such an inquiry was held, it would not satisfy her prayers since she is seeking a court monitored inquiry..The Court then ordered the Delhi Police to place the inquiry report on record. The bench also ordered the petitioners in another matter to place on record the material to show that they had filed a complaint with the authorities before they approached the court.The case will heard again on May 8.