The Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC), which is leading the agitation against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on a thoroughfare that divides the campus, has decided to move away from a polling station but will remain on the road.
Delhi goes to polls on Saturday. Police had asked the Jamia Millia Islamia varsity administration to “move” the protesters from Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar Marg. The varsity administration, which does not have jurisdiction, had forwarded the letter to the alumni association and the JCC.
In a statement issued on Thursday night, the JCC said: “Respecting the model code of conduct, which prohibits canvassing by political parties within 100 metres of a polling station, we have decided to move our protest to Gate No. 4 of the university, even though we are not a political party. This is being done to ensure that voters do not face any problems in entering and exiting the polling station. We will also ensure that the traffic is not hampered…. This is only for 7th and 8th of February and the protest shall continue at Gate No. 7 (in front of which the thoroughfare runs) from 9th February onward.”
The model code prohibits public meetings by parties and candidates in the 48 hours before polling ends. Thursday was the last day of campaign in Delhi. Canvassing -- that is assistance at kiosks -- by political parties are allowed outside a 100-metre radius of polling stations.
The JCC added: “A student was shot in broad daylight in full spectacle of the police force that was brought to stop the students from marching peacefully to Rajghat... The fascist state and its machinery, which includes a mute police force, must be resisted and that resistance must be on the roads of this country. It is shocking that the police openly claims that it cannot ensure the safety and security of its citizens! This is a clear indication of the country being in utter chaos and lawlessness. And all the more reason to be out on the roads.”
Earlier in the day, Sahil Ahmed, an post-graduate student of Peace and Conflict Studies, had told this paper: “We are discussing a proposal to vacate the road until polling is completed on Saturday as we do not want to give the government any excuse to claim that free and fair polls cannot be held because of our peaceful protest.”
The Jamia administration had also issued an appeal to students to vacate the road.
In the notice sent on Tuesday to Jamia’s registrar A.P. Siddiqui, the station house officer of Jamia Nagar police station Upender Singh has said some “students, old students, and localities” (sic) have blocked the road outside Gate No. 7 in protest, and that firing incidents have taken place recently at New Friends Colony (NFC), Shaheen Bagh, and near the varsity gate.
Inspector Singh was the officer who strolled towards a shooter and disarmed him after he had brandished the weapon for a while and shot at a student in the presence of the police on January 30.
The notice adds: “The law and order situation in the area of Jamia Nagar is very critical”.
In light of Assembly polls on Saturday and “to avoid any untoward situation, you are requested to move” the protesters from the road.
A copy was also sent to the alumni association and the JCC. A Jamia official said that registrar Siddiqui has merely forwarded the letter to the alumni and the JCC, as “we have no jurisdiction on the road”.
In the letter, Siddiqui — a serving IPS officer on deputation — added a line of bureaucratese: “It is requested that the request of the SHO be considered in the larger interest of all stakeholders.”
Varsity officials had repeatedly told students to move the agitation inside as they fear the repeat of the police rampage on libraries and places of worship on campus on December 15 — to catch alleged agitators who burned buses.
Advocate Mehmood Pracha — who represents many anti-CAA protesters, including Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad — told this paper, that more than 50 men and women had received notices for obstruction to a public road and breach of peace.
“There is no breach of peace as protesters are there in unison and are not in conflict with each other in the enclosed space where the protest is taking place — where no prohibitory orders are in place. Breach of peace is by people sent by the BJP and the RSS, and they should be sent notices. These orders from the executive magistrate — an assistant commissioner of police in Amar Colony — are being used as an illegal tool to discourage protests. These are preventive and there is no offence for which these notices are being sent. There is no specific information giving in them. Lawyers are taking it up pro bono and assisting people to submit replies,” he said.