Aligarh Muslim University students on Sunday said they would continue holding peaceful protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on the campus, the site of a police crackdown on December 15.
A meeting of the students’ general body took the decision on Saturday evening and formed a “coordination committee” to decide the course of the agitation.
Starting Monday, the students will hold a dharna near the Bab-e-Syed gate every day between 10am and 4pm, a coordination committee spokesperson said in a statement.
On December 15, security forces had fired tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades on the AMU campus to break up a “peaceful” protest against the new citizenship law, a fact-finding team of activists and lawyers has said.
Aligarh police have asked the university to bar protesters who they said were not students but were participating in the campus protests.
A police letter to the university said these outsiders were the “brains behind the December 15 protest which led to violence” and should not be allowed into the campus.
The AMU is scheduled to reopen after the winter vacation on January 6.
The university teachers’ association has expressed concern over the Rapid Action Force’s decision to “belatedly” file an FIR on December 23 against 1,000 unidentified AMU students for the “violent” protest.
It said in a media release that the move appeared “mala fide and motivated” and belied Aligarh senior superintendent of police Akash Kulahari’s efforts to restore confidence.
RAF commandant Piyush Kumar Kuldhar, however, told reporters: “The purpose behind the FIR is not to harass students. As a matter of routine, whenever any personnel is injured or if any ammunition is used, we file such reports with the police station concerned. This is mandatory.”
On Sunday, the university denied that vice-chancellor Tariq Mansoor had refused to meet Harsh Mander and 13 other activists who had recently visited the campus to probe the police crackdown.
University spokesperson Omar Peerzada said the authorities had not been told in advance about Mander’s visit, and that Mansoor was in Delhi that day.
He said Mander had met the registrar, controller and proctor. So, he added, the allegation that the VC had deliberately avoided Mander was “untrue”.