One Year of JMI Violence: Umar Khalid’s Mother, Sister Held, Freed After 2 Hours

New Delhi, 16 Dec 2020 [Fik/News Sources]: The police on Tuesday detained a group of students and residents, including mother and sister of incarcerated activist Umar Khalid, from the Batla House locality of Jamia Nagar where they had assembled to hold a candlelight vigil to mark one year of violence in Jamia Millia Islamia.

They were released after a couple of hours.

A journalism student who had gone to the spot to cover the vigil for his social media page was also detained. He said that he, along with nine more students, was picked up in a police vehicle and was driven around on roads of Delhi for two hours without taking them to any police station.

“I asked a cop who was accompanying us why we were detained and being driven around, he said he didn’t know,” the student said.

The police took away the phones of all the detainees and put them on the switch-off mode which made it difficult for the families and journalists to ascertain the whereabouts of the students.

Khalid’s father SQR Ilyas took to Facebook and said in a video message that when he approached the police officers to know about his wife and daughter, the police told him that they would be released after some time.

“A police officer said he would not tell where they have been taken,” Ilyas said as he condemned the police action. “They are not allowing any dissent.”

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police issued a statement which said: “A group of protesters had assembled at Batla House for a candlelight march to mark the anniversary of the CAA agitation. The police team removed the agitators from the spot. Meanwhile, three ladies also accompanied the protesters. The protesters were then counselled regarding covid-appropriate behaviour and were requested to return to their respective homes.”

Last year, on this day, the police, in response to student protests against CAA, had stormed the JMI campus and resorted to use of force against the students inside the university library. The police action triggered massive outrage as women took to streets in Shaheen Bagh locality leading to months-long sit-in against CAA.