Petitioners urge HC to issue directions for independent probe in Dec 15 Jamia incident

Senior Lawyer Colin Gonsalves, who was appearing for petitioners seeking action against Cops over Jamia violence, urged the High Court of Delhi on Tuesday to issue directions for an independent investigation being headed by Ex-Bureaucrats in December's Jamia Millia University (JMI) incident.

In a videoconference hearing which was heard for around 6 hours, Advocate Gonsalves argued before a Division Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel & Justice Prateek Jalan, this matter should neither be investigated by the police nor by the CBI.

He said that "How can he expect the police to conduct a fair inquiry when their charge-sheet states that not a single police officer carried out any illegal activity during the violence".

Gonsalves also suggested the names of some 4 Ex-Director General of Police (DGPs) from Uttar Pradesh to head the independent investigation, saying that they were part of the team probing some riots cases in Uttar Pradesh.

Citing CCTV & other visuals, he also apprised the Court that evidence revealed that Police had poured some liquid inside a bus, which needs to be probed.

He also told the Court that Police assaulted the girls.

Lawyer Gonsalves said that this is a very good case study for Police reforms as JMI was the campus of minorities.

He said the investigation in the matter is completely one-sided & sought to place all visuals collected by the Police.

Representing another petitioner in the matter, Senior Lawyer Salman Khurshid urged for an inquiry by a fact-finding committee in the matter.

He said that a fact-finding committee would bring facts to public notice & restore faith to the young students who have suffered in the incident.

As the hearing remained inconclusive, the court said that the matter would be continued tomorrow.

The court was hearing a batch of the petition including one filed by lawyer Nabila Hasan through advocates Sneha Mukherjee & Siddharth Seem seeking action against cops over Jamia violence.

The petitioners had blamed the forces for using extreme, ruthless, & excessive physical force & violence against unarmed & peaceful students.

The plea also raised questions over the use of "extreme" measures such as tear gas shells, chili-based explosives, & rubber bullets against the protesters.

Several protesters & policemen sustained injuries during a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) near the Jamia university campus on December 15. Some public transports were set on fire & other public properties were also damaged in the protest.

On Dec 15, the Delhi Police had allegedly thrown teargas shells inside JMI campus, barged into the premises, & dragged students out of the library.

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