10 arrested in connection with Jamia violence; no students among them, say Delhi Police

A bus that was set on fire by protesters at Mathura road, New Delhi, on Monday, December 16, 2019. (Burhaan Kinu/HT PHOTO)

At least 10 people, none of them students, have been arrested in connection with the violence in Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University on Sunday, a senior police official said on Tuesday.

“Ten local residents of Jamia and New Friends Colony have been arrested. Three of them have a criminal background. They’ve been booked for rioting and mob violence,” deputy commissioner of police (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said.

The 10 men, arrested between Monday night and early on Tuesday morning, are being questioned to identify others who might have instigated the violence.

The senior official said the background of others is being checked.

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“They were identified from CCTV footage and by policemen who were on duty in the area of violence,” Biswal said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials also clarified on Tuesday that no bullet was fired during the violent Jamia protests on Sunday. “No bullet was fired in Jamia. 10 persons caught so far have criminal background. More criminal elements are being tracked,” said a MHA official.

Protests against the citizenship act on Sunday turned into violent clashes after four public buses were set on fire in south Delhi.

Dozens were injured in the clashes near Jamia Millia Islamia, following which the police entered the campus and lathi-charged several students, leading to allegations of brutality.

Police have denied the charges and said that people agitating against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) set fire to at least four buses and several two-wheelers in New Friends Colony, following which they fired tear gas shells and lathi-charged the protesters to disperse them.

The university said its students were not behind the violence, and that people from outside the campus were involved in the clashes with the police.

Violent clashes have erupted in several parts of the country, especially in Assam, over the past week in the northeast over the new law, which gives citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis and Jains who entered India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.