AMU protest | Photo Credit: Times Now

Aligarh: Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday filed an FIR against 1,200 Aligarh Muslim University students for carrying out a candlelight march. The case has been registered under Sections 188 and 341 of the Indian Penal Code for violating Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which was imposed in the area.

The march was carried out inside the AMU campus on December 23 in solidarity with those who have lost their lives in protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The march was peaceful but in violation of the Section in force that disallowed assembly of more than four people.

"There was no permission for the candle march," said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Aakash Kulhari.

Notably, Section 144 of the CrPC gives the authority to the Executive Magistrate of any state or territory to issue an order to bar the gathering of four or more people in an area. As per the law, each member of such 'unlawful assembly' can be booked for engaging in rioting.

It surfaced yesterday that a fact-finding report on the violent clash between the Uttar Pradesh Police and protesters in AMU on the night of December 15 has accused the cops of indulging in "unprovoked violence in AMU, more brutal than even in Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI)".

The report also hits out at the AMU administration for "abandoning its students and throwing them to a hostile and pitiless state".

The report titled, 'The Siege of Aligarh Muslim University', was prepared by the Karwan-e-Mohabbat and Indian Cultural Forum.

While giving a clean chit to students, the investigators alleged that they could not find any proof of violence from the students' side.

"Students attest that there was no provocation from their end to instigate the violence. The faculty also largely agree with this," said the report as it targeted the UP Police for the showdown.

Notably, no account of the security forces was recorded.

The report has further blamed the AMU administration, district authorities and police for failing "in their duty to protect the campus and its residents against the brutality by the UP Police".

The report also claimed that a PhD student has lost his hand because a "stun grenade" exploded while he was holding it.

"The hand of a PhD student had to be amputated from below the wrist due to the injuries sustained from a stun grenade that exploded in his hand," alleged the report.