In a new twist to the ongoing controversy over the release of edited CCTV footages of police action against anti-CAA rioters inside Jamia Millia Islamia University, the university administration has now released a statement distancing itself from the leaked CCTV footage.
“It has come to our notice that some video regards to police brutalities in Dr Zakir Hussain library are in circulation. This is to clarify that the video has not been released by the university,” Jamia Millia Islamia University administration said in a statement.
#Breaking | Jamia Millia Islamia University releases a statement distancing itself from the CCTV footage that was leaked.
‘The video has not been released by us,’ says Jamia Millia Islamia University.
Wajihulla with details. Listen in. pic.twitter.com/FgdFwlw0L1
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 16, 2020
Interestingly, the official statements by the Jamia Millia Islamia University come at a time when the so-called CCTV footage released by the Jamia Coordination Committee was found edited out and morphed, leaving the anti-CAA protestors at Jamia hugely embarrassed.
Earlier in the day, the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC), which includes students and alumni of the Jamia Millia Islamia and is not officially associated with the university, had released a purported CCTV footage in which some people with police uniforms were seen caning students allegedly in the library on December 15 during the anti-CAA riots that took place inside the university campus.
The 49-second video purportedly shows some seven to eight people alleged to be police personnel entering the Old Reading Hall and beating ‘students’ with lathis. The video was released by the JCC in the early hours of Sunday.
The video released by Jamia coordination committee has too many discrepancies and has been edited out to portray Delhi police as the perpetrators of the attack. However, with careful observation, it can be seen that the Muslim mobs who had unleashed violence had taken refuge in the library to escape from the police action.
One of the ‘students’ who took refuge in the library was seen setting a bike on fire near Jamia University campus during the anti-CAA riots.
Interestingly, the JCC which released the video on twitter is not even an officially elected body. It was formed after the December 15 riots and has been forefront at organising anti-CAA protests inside the university campus as well as at Shaheen Bagh, Khureji and other places.
The controversial Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi had emerged as one of the epi-centres of the anti-CAA agitations being perpetrated in the name of ‘peaceful protests’. The students and Muslim mob associated with the Jamia Millia Islamia University had unleashed violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
In December, the protests against CAA and NRC had turned violent amidst chants of Allah-o-Akbar and Naara-e-Taqbeer. The Muslim mobs had burnt four DTC buses, 100 private vehicles and 10 police bikes and pelted stones, injuring several policemen.
