Skip to main content

Delhi Police 'taking revenge' against Jamia students: President Kovind asked to act

Counterview Desk 
In a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind seeking his intervention in recent arrests of several student activists of Jamia Millia Islamia, 140 plus signatories from diverse groups, including academicians, students, alumni and activists from India and abroad, have said that this is being done “with the ill will of the police authorities and is clearly a violation of basic legal norms.”
The letter says, the arrest of Jamia students by the Delhi police is being carried out “with the intention to take revenge”, adding, “They wanted to silence the voices that are being raised against their arbitrariness. This is visible from their action that during this global pandemic also they are arresting scholars of a 100 years old university.”

Text:

We, as concerned citizens are deeply disturbed by the recent state of affairs by the Delhi Police.
Jamia Millia Islamia as an institution is a complainant in the case against the Delhi Police. In which it has been alleged that Delhi police entered the university premises without their sanction and vandalized the university library.
Furthermore, they have beaten the university security guard for entering the campus and innocent students studying in the university library and reading hall, of which several were brutally assaulted and one of them lost his eye. This complaint was filed by the university officials after the pressure created by the students (two of them got recently arrested and were booked under the Unlawful Activities [Prevention] Act).
However, the Delhi Police denied all these charges and submitted to the court that they entered the library to protect the students sitting in the library. The fact of the matter is that there is no FIR against the police personnel till now and the above-stated matter is also for the registration of the FIR.
This brings out that if any security agency is at fault then it is difficult to register an FIR against them. But it is evident from the leaked CCTV footage of the university library that the brutality of the Delhi Police was extremely harsh and no state will treat their students like this.
Why all this is narrated to you when everyone is aware of the police brutality that happened on the December 15, 2019? Interestingly, 2019 was the centenary year of the martyrdom of Jallianawala Bagh. All this is narrated to you because when the police brutality took place against the students of Jamia, the whole nation stood up for their cause so that they should get justice.
But the recent arrest of the Jamia student is done with the ill will of the police authorities and is clearly a violation of the basic legal norm i.e., Nemo Judex in Causa Sua, means, "no-one is a judge in his own cause." The action took place after the district court asked the Delhi Police what action you had taken on the incident of December 15.
They wanted to silence the voices that are being raised against arbitrariness. This is visible from their action that during global pandemic
This raises a question on the criminal justice system of the civilized state, that do we ask the murderer before registering an FIR against him: ‘Hey murderer (alleged) do we register an FIR against you because you have been alleged as an accused in the murder case’? What do you think, how will he respond? His response will not be self-incriminating but he might give excuses for doing the murder.
In the legal process, the case of the prosecution is heard first, then comes the defense, but in the case of Jamia, Delhi Police is getting all the right to defend themselves and they are also tampering with the evidence because they are roaming free and have the authority to do whatever they want (by putting the students of Jamia in jail as they are a prime witness in the said case).
Therefore, any arrest of the students of Jamia or any other university by the Delhi Police is with the intention to take revenge. They wanted to silence the voices that are being raised against their arbitrariness. This is visible from their action that during this global pandemic also they are arresting the scholars of a 100 years old university.
So, if the arresting of victims of December 15 is possible in this situation of pandemic then to safeguard the criminal justice system the investigation should also start against the accused of December 15.
Likewise, the situation that broke in the Northeast part of Delhi, there are a series of news reports that indicate inaction by the police authorities. This calls for an independent inquiry into the matter. However, with a spree of arrests taking place, in some cases on vague grounds, it becomes essential for your office to intervene.
We urge you to look into this matter and help justice prevail.
---
Click HERE for signatories

Comments

TRENDING

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

  By Rajiv Shah   This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan*  “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative   A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

​ By Ram Puniyani  ​The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue. 

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández  The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah  Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey*  ​In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.