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Ramjas Protests: Delhi Police Has Filed Only 1 FIR Despite 13 Complaints From Students

Afraid to take action against their own?
Hindustan Times via Getty Images

Last week saw protests by students of various colleges at the Delhi Police Headquarters in the ITO area with demands for FIRs. Students alleged that during the protests near the Maurice Nagar police station on last Wednesday, the ABVP had beaten up students from other groups, and later, videos emerged to show male police officers beating, pushing and punching women students.

When students picketing at the police headquarters on last Thursday demanded FIRs by chanting loud slogans the police seemed to be on the back foot. But reports, almost a week later, suggest that despite several complaints only one FIR has been filed by the police.

The Indian Express reports that the only FIR that has been filed is on a complaint by SHO Aarti Sharma who was injured in the brawl. Apart from that, sources told the newspaper, that seven written complaints had been filed by students belonging to "Left-leaning" groups, five complaints by ABVP members and one by a lawyer from Tis Hazari court.

The FIR, filed on Sharma's complaint, was for rioting and assaulting police officers, a PTI report says.

While the police had promised a thorough probe into the matter during the protests at ITO Thursday last, nothing seems to have been done on the complaints from students.

And not just students, journalists from several prominent media houses like The Times Of India, The Hindustan Times and Quint had been assaulted. The Quint journalist who managed to capture footage of policemen surrounding and punching a woman student was assaulted by the police as well.

The incidents following the protests give a clear indication that the police is trying to cover up its own follies and not keeping their word.

A woman student who was assaulted by the male students told The Indian Express that while she had provided even the names of those who had assaulted her, nothing has been done about it. She also said that when she was being assaulted, the police personnel present did not do anything to stop it.

While the incident has been termed as "clashes" and "skirmishes" between students. Students beaten up at the incident say that it was assault and not clashes.

New18 quoted one student as saying, "It was not a case of two student unions clashing. This was an assault. We were not even inside Ramjas when suddenly we saw stones flying towards us from beyond the gate. They even made rape threats against girls. One was telling girls that he has taken their picture and he would come for them at night."

The entire issue started when JNU students Umar Khalid and Shehla Rashid to address a seminar on the 'Culture of Protests' which was cancelled after protest by the ABVP. The incidents of assault by the police and ABVP happened when students and DU professors were marching to the Maurice Nagar police station in protest against the cancellation of the even.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.