Sixty students of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) were booked by Uttar Pradesh Police for rioting and damaging public property on December 16.
Allahabad| The Allahabad High Court, On Monday directed the DGP of the UP Govt to identify and take action against the policemen who were involved in “stray incidents of damaging motorcycles and unnecessarily caning the apprehended students” of the AMU.
The order has been passed by the division bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Samit Gopalon the basis of a recommendation made by the National Human Rights Commission, Live Law reported.
The police had barged into the campus and allegedly caned those they apprehended during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
In January, the bench had directed the commission to investigate allegations of police violence, based on public interest litigation filed by a person called Mohammad Aman Khan. The court had asked the NHRC to submit its report within five weeks.
Mohammad had alleged that the students were protesting peacefully against the Citizenship Amendment Act since December 13, 2019. However, on December 15, 2019, the Para Military Force and the State Police, for no just and valid reasons, charged Lathi with a massive amount of firing of Tear Gas, Rubber Bullets and Pellets on the students of AMU.
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The investigation was conducted by a six-member team of the NHRC, which recommended that action must be taken against the delinquent policemen in accordance with the law apart from compensating the injured students.
A fact-finding report, unrelated to the NHRC inquiry, found that law-enforcement officials had fired stun grenades “usually used in war-like situations or terror operations” at students, and raised “chilling slogans like Jai Shri Ram while attacking the students and setting ablaze their scooters and vehicles…”
The NHRC investigation, submitted to the High Court earlier this month, recommended that legal action must be taken against the delinquent policemen apart from compensating the injured students.
Last month, the Aligarh Muslim University administration had said it would file a complaint against the police for barging into the hostel at the campus without permission.
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