“Police Sexually Assaulted Female Students Inside Jamia Girls’ Hostel”, Allege Students

Trigger Warning: This article includes accounts of violence and sexual assault.

On Sunday, 15th December, Jamia Millia Islamia and the South Delhi area witnessed a violent clash between police and people, which included Jamia students protesting against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. There were visuals and reports of Delhi Police beating and firing at students. The whole ordeal started at 5:30 pm when the police broke into Jamia Campus.

As the evening processed, around 30 students were detained and taken to the Kalkaji Police station. Former IAS Harsh Mander and advocate Choudhary Ali Zia Kabir were allowed inside the police station. They have issued a statement in which there is an account of Jamia students alleging sexual assault of female students of Jamia Millia Islamia by the police personnel inside the girl’s hostel.

Here’s the entire statement:

“We arrived at the police station at about 8.30 but were immediately pushed outside the police station, and only after repeated requests, two persons Harsh Mander( Social Activist) and Choudhary Ali Zia Kabir (Advocate), were allowed in, stripped of their mobile phones and such belongings. There was a tacit understanding that they would record no statement or take signatures on any document, including any Vakalatnama.

There were about 28 students countable, presented to us. One student reported that he is suffering from a heart problem and is not being provided medicine. He was simply studying in the library wherefrom he was picked up and assaulted along his way to the police station. He identified himself as Chandan Singh s/o Lakshmikant Singh. He requested that the CCTV cameras in the library and the campus would reveal CRPF and Delhi Police being violent, CRPF more so. All students agreed with him.

Later, Chandan had fits, fell off from the chair while he was offered food and started gasping for breath. On request of the intervenors, he was taken to the hospital by the police. Students reported that the campus violence was “started” by the CRPF; it was not the case that they were protesting on the roads outside the campus. They repeatedly impressed upon us that the entire CCTV footage of the whole campus, including the library, be seized as evidence of their innocence.

Some of them stated that female students were beaten up and even sexually harassed by the male police officers. To save themselves, they tried locking themselves in the female washrooms but in vain. Doors were broken, and the forces entered thereto. Another tactic employed by the forces was to switch off the lights before they started assaulting students and sexually abusing girl students.

Wherever lights were switched off, sexual abuse was shocking. Lights were switched off to prevent any recording in the CCTV cameras, but we are confident that some cameras would still have recorded sexual abuse. As to violence, the footage might run into several hours recording continuous assault.”

Sd/Choudhary Ali Zia Kabir
Advocate