On 15 December, students of Jamia Millia Islamia held protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act for the third consecutive day. That day, the students had conducted peaceful protests within the university premises. Yet, the Delhi Police forced their way into campus and attacked the students with brute force, using lathis and tear gas. Numerous accounts revealed that the police force entered the library and even attacked students who were not involved in the protests.
Among them was Arsalan Tariq, a second-year student pursuing a master’s in business administration at JMI. In a conversation with Meghna Prakash, an intern at The Caravan, Tariq recounted his ordeal, including how police personnel continued beating him even as he told them that he was visually impaired, unable to see from his left eye. “We will take all the blindness out of your eyes right now,” he said one police officer had responded. Tariq questioned, “If they do not have pity even on a blind student, how can the common man remain safe?”
Over the past few days, we have been facing so many atrocities, so much violence has been occurring in Jamia. On the morning of 15 December, I went to the library’s old reading hall at 11 am to study for my exams. I sat in the MPhil section because that’s the quietest place in the whole library. At 5 o’clock, I could hear that protests were going on, everyone was shouting. Then, at around 5.15 pm, I heard that tear gas was being thrown by the police in the roads. I could hear so many horrible sounds. It was very scary. I thought it was happening because the students were protesting and it would just remain outside.
But at 5.30 pm, I heard some students shout really badly. They came upstairs, in the library. They closed the doors of the library. When I asked them what was happening, a student told me that the police are inside the campus. The student said that the police surrounded Jamia from all four corners, they broke the gates and came inside. Some of the policemen were coming from the back, some from the front, throwing tear gas and doing lathi charge. After that, all the students who were in the first floor of the library quickly ran up and came to the MPhil section, where I was sitting. All the students came to the MPhil section and closed the doors of the library because they thought the police might come to the library also.
From the window, we could see that the police force had broken the doors of the library. They entered and started destroying all the pillars and windows of the library. The police also came upstairs. It was a very scary situation, but we were still not panicking. We calmed down, and blocked the door with tables. Still, the police came upstairs with their lathis, they broke the door and entered quickly. I could not imagine or see what the situation was. I could not tell everyone what was happening.
It was really a bad situation, a horrible situation. The police started beating everyone blindly—all the girls, all the boys. They were not seeing who was standing before them. They were also abusing, using very bad language. They said to the students, “You all are thieves. Why were you all engaged in the protest?” Some of the students replied, “Sir, we are students only. We were not engaged in the protest. We were just studying in the library.” But the police was still beating them—on and on, continuously beating them.
I was also standing there. The police beat me on my forehead—you can see it, it’s a little swollen. They were beating really badly—on my foreleg; on my head, two times; on my finger also. It went on for two minutes. Some of the boys, they opened the door and started running downstairs. But the police was there downstairs also and started beating the students.
When my friend was taking me from the stairs, they caught him by his hair, dragged him down and started beating him also. It was a really bad situation. Downstairs, they hit me on the shoulder. I told them, “Sir, I’m visually impaired, I’m partially blind, I’m not able to see with my left eye.” They still told me, “Okay, whatever, no matter how blind you are, we will take all the blindness out of your eyes right now.” They hit me two times on my right leg. They purposely beat me. They knew I was blind, they understood I am a blind student. They knew I couldn’t see and purposely, the policeman took a big rod—it was a steel rod—and beat me on my right leg really badly.
They also asked me to show my ID card. When I showed it, a policeman told me, “Where are you from, which college are you from?” I told him, “Sir, I’m a student of Jamia, I’m doing MBA.” The police told me, “Run as fast as you can, otherwise we are going to beat you more. Go away. Run, run, run.”
When I came outside the library, I saw a guy lying down in the floor. He was crying, blood was coming out of his head, his legs were injured. I could not see the situation because the police told me to run as fast I can. So, I just quickly ran from the reading hall to the hostel. When I was running, I was really scared and tense, so I fell down.
The situation was very scary. There was a lot of noise everywhere. Everyone was shouting really badly—they were hiding behind the tables, under the tables. I also saw the police beating students in the washroom. The students were lying down in the washroom, and the police were beating them. The security guard also got beaten up by the police. The police even entered the masjid and beat up the imam.
We could not imagine what our country has come to. We are no longer safe in Delhi. The policemen, if they do not have pity even on a blind student, how can the common man remain safe? I don’t know what is happening. The Delhi Police is the worst police of the world, I can just say this. They do not know how to treat students, they do not know how to treat people. If our police—the protector of this country—are not good, then how can we be safe?
I plan to go home within two or three days. But first, one of my friends got injured in the hostel, and I have to stay with him and take care of him. He is the one who helped me escape from the MPhil section of the library, but the police caught his hair, dragged him down and beat him. He is badly injured, he has got so many stitches on his head.
Half the hostel is empty now, all the bachelor’s students and diploma students have gone to their homes, because they were scared. Many women have also left their hostels. But some students are remaining. They feel that we, as Muslims, if we do not fight now, this will continue in the future also. If we do not stop this situation now, we will remain slaves a hundred years later. Half of my friends were saying, “We will stay in the hostels. We will not be cowards and go to our homes. We will stay and fight back.”
As told to Meghna Prakash.