By Anirudh Singla
The backlash and the mistreatment that the students have had to face in DU by the ABVP is well known. What is not known is the extent to which the conditions escalated. What happened with the students in Ramjas College is one of the worst nightmares a student can have.
The story so far: Experiencing the panic
Witnessed from a first-hand perspective, our notions of safety in a reputed educational institute in the heart of the capital of the country have shattered to a lowly abyss, again.
Imagine taking part in a seminar which has invited a supposedly controversial figure to speak. The topic of the speech is completely unrelated to his domain of conflict. You are informed that there have been protests and vicious displays of hooliganism by uncivil elements of the society. Hence, the special speaker has been told not to come. 15 minutes later, in that desolate atmosphere, you hear a deafening crack from the window to your right and huge cement rocks fall near your legs. Within five minutes, several accompanying huge stones cause the nearby shattering glass to fly all around.
[su_pullquote]Scared, no electricity, and radical hooligans shouting all sorts of vulgar and threatening slogans outside the conference hall, one would realise what pure fear feels like.[/su_pullquote]
There is chaos and confusion. People are running helter-skelter. To add to these violent complications, the electricity is cut. Scared, no electricity, and radical hooligans shouting all sorts of vulgar and threatening slogans outside the conference hall, one would realise what pure fear feels like. Lewd remarks are passed. Girls have been groped and molested. They are being circled by these goons and ostracised from other people. Chairs are thrown on elder female teachers, male college students are beaten badly.
Why was this happening? Because they had the courage to shout stop when they saw their friends get hurt for no fault of theirs. Even the Delhi Police admitted on Thursday that some of their personnel themselves acted under a misguided pretext and tackled these clashes very unlawfully.
Protests continue: Students standing firm
Over 500 student supporters gathered outside the ITO today. AISAs Kawalpreet Kaur lead the talk by discussing the perturbed events that took place in the last two days. Umar Khalid also joined the protest outside ITO. Surprisingly instead of talking about the student movement and shedding light on the right to opine, he defended himself against being branded an anti-national. From Rohit Vemula to Afzal Gurus anniversary commemoration in JNU last year, he spoke about everything the ABVP was afraid hed say if he spoke in the seminar.
With the police commissioner making the students wait outside the Delhi Police headquarters, anger and dissent grew.
The Commissioner was served an ultimatum by the students to come out in half an hour or a blockade would be created on the ITO Roads. Submitting to their demands, the commissioner finally came out. The students put forward their demand of filing a FIR against the ABVP. However, the police misled them under the name of legal procedures and refused nonchalantly. Citing supposedly false legal terms, the commissioner claimed that some members of the ABVP had registered a FIR against the students the previous night. The contents of this FIR were explicit.
Students of Delhi University protesting outside Delhi Police HQ. | Picture Courtesy: Hindustan TimesThe alleged report included statements like: The Leftists and the Rightists were standing at the Left and the Right side of the road respectively and there was egg-pelting. 50 odd ‘ultraleftists’ were disrupting the peaceful approach of the police and had to be escorted out. AISA people are in contempt of stopping peaceful measures.
Planning the future course of action
Post intense deliberations, the students decided to compile all the complaints and served a final notice to the commissioner. The notice asked for the FIR filing process to be streamlined and peaceful the next day. If not, the students will file a PIL in the judicial courts using all the complaints, photos and videos as evidence. Close to 2000 students are expected to turn up on Friday. The reply to the aforementioned notice will be served then. Hopefully, justice shall prevail.