Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow

NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 17— Tears rolled down the cheeks of Mohammad Mustafa, first-year student of Master of Social Work (MSW) in Jamia Millia Islamia while he was narrating how mercilessly policemen armed with lathis beat him up fracturing his hands, leg and asked him to read “Kalma” when he was studying in reading room of the university library in the night of December 15, 2019.

“On the night of December 15, I came to know that not only protesters are beaten up by the police, but also non-protesters have met the same fate,” said Mustafa, appealing to people to join the movement if they do not want to go to detention camps.

He spoke about the police atrocities on him before the media at a press conference organised at the Press Club of India on Tuesday.

Mustafa said that on the fateful night, there were 10 girls and 15 boys in the reading room. A group of armed personnel broke open the door, entered the room and beat up the students mercilessly abusing them on communal lines. “I was studying in a corner. Police suddenly entered and attacked on my head. When I raised my arms to protect my head, the policeman broke my both arms, one leg and dragged me outside. Meanwhile, I was unconscious. When I gained consciousness, I was on main gate of the university and police were beating me saying “ab Kalma padh le” (now read Kalma). It is a general tradition among Indian Muslims to recite the first Kalima, expressing faith in One God only and declaring Prophet Mohammad as the Messenger of Allah, when they feel they are about to breathe their last.

“Later on, the police took me and 69 others to New Friends Colony Police Station at 6.30 pm and made to sit on the floor. There was severe pain in my arms and leg. I begged for pain killer saying that I will die of injury. Instead of giving me pain killer, a police officer said let him die. The police took us to AIIMS Trauma Centre at 7 PM and we were discharged by the hospital and released by the police next morning at 6.30 am”, said Mustafa.

Narrating his tale of woe, Mustafa screamed and said, “The country that goes on religious line is ruined. Pakistan is its best example”. Prime Minister Narendra Modi government should have taken accolade for good works like Swachhata Abhiyan and other good works. “It should leave formulating anti-people policy like Citizenship Amendment Act 2019”, said Mustafa, who has already completed his MBA from Jamia.

Asif Iqbal, another Jamia student, who took initiative to organize the protest, said that he was threatened by a police officer in Jamia Nagar Police Station saying that “tumko netagiri bhulwa denge” (We will make you give up leadership). More than ten protests were held at JMI campus before the discussion on Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 in Parliament. “Thinking that this is not a movement of Muslims, we decided to march outside Jamia campus and till Jantar Mantar. We were opposed by the Jamia Millia Islamia administration”, he said.

“However, this could not dampen our enthusiasm. We protested on Friday, December 12. The police lathi charged the students and turned the protest into a bloodshed. Forty students were detained and taken to police station at Badarpur. Having seen the misbehaviour of police, local residents came to us for sympathy. Again on December 15, we peacefully marched from Jamia to Julena where police lathi charged us, chased us to university campus”, he said.

Denying that buses were burnt by the protesters, Iqbal said, “Chasing the students, policemen entered the library, showered lathis blows on students studying there. They fired rubber bullets and pellets.

He said that “barbaric act of police cannot deter the students from raising their forceful voice against the unlawful Act. We will continue the protest till the end. Government has plans to make Muslims second rate citizens but we will let not this happen.”

A psychology student at Jamia Rahil Musaf alleged that the police told the students that their family members would be booked if they disclosed their stories to the media.

"It was such a war zone that day that I told my mom that I won't survive", he said, adding that they took shelter in a nearby house.

Addressing media persons on the occasion, human rights activist and Delhi University Professor Apoorvanand said this might all have been done on the direction of the Home Ministry, and Home Minister Amit Shah. Both are accountable for merciless attack on students in JMI and Aligarh Muslim University like in Germany where cases were registered against those who ordered the killings of Jews in gas chambers and who executed the order. In the present case, Apporvanand said the cases be booked against Home Minister and his Ministry for ordering crackdown and police for carrying out the order.

Regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that “Maowadi, Algaovadi and Jihadi” are identified by their clothes, Apporvanand said that this kind of language had provoked the forces against Muslims in India. “The government’s entire agenda is a gainst the Muslim community. The country is heading towards Civil War”, he said.

Another human rights activist Farah Naqvi, vehemently criticising the government, advised the government avoid use of force to enable the movement against the new citizenship law to subside. She said protesting against the government policy was democratic right of all citizens. She said December 15, when police attacked Jamia students, was a Black Day in the history of India.