The Delhi High Court on Monday, May 8, heard a plea regarding the violence at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) in December 2019 during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) agitation. The Delhi Police informed the court that footage from CCTV cameras available in areas near New Friends Colony and Jamia Nagar had been "duly preserved" and collected well in time.
The Delhi Police's stand came in an affidavit in response to a plea submitted by Nabila Hasan, one of the petitioners in the matter, asking for the retention of CCTV footage from all cameras inside JMI exclusively. The petitioner also sought that all persons who have been harmed or arrested by police or paramilitary forces receive proper financial compensation, as per a report by IANS.
In its affidavit, Delhi Police stated that CCTV footage from 13 locations in the New Friends Colony area was collected and sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Rohini for authentication. "After examination, the seized pen drives, DVRs were received back and a copy of the footage was supplied to the accused persons in FIR No 242/19 PS New Friends Colony, New Delhi," it said.
Demand for fair compensation
Regarding the demand for fair compensation, the police stated that Hasan's complaint had been included in an investigation by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) into accusations of alleged atrocities committed by the police and paramilitary forces inside the Jamia campus.
The commission accepted the recommendations made by the NHRC investigation team after conducting a thorough and in-depth investigation that the Chief Secretary should give "suitable compensation to the injured students who received grievous injuries, commensurate with their injuries, on humanitarian grounds."
"It is submitted that as evident from the aforesaid direction passed by NHRC, the Chief Secretary, GNCT Delhi, was directed to provide suitable compensation to persons who have received grievous injuries. It is submitted that the details of the compensation supplied by the GNCTD are presently not available with the respondent, Delhi Police and efforts to get the same from the GNCTD are being made," the affidavit added.
Further, according to the affidavit, the Commission report itself states that Hasan "actively participated" in the proceedings before the NHRC and provided all of the information she had access to. "Hasan cannot request the same remedy before the court while concealing the fact that she successfully obtained it before the NHRC," the document states.
Calling it an attempt to "abuse the process of law" and "equity jurisdiction" of the HC, Delhi Police said that Hasan's plea should be rejected with exemplary cost. "The conduct of the petitioner in suppressing the above material fact also warrants deprecation," the affidavit stated, adding that the plea should be dismissed. A division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh adjourned the hearing to July 13, as per IANS.
