The Delhi Police's crime branch will investigate the Jamia Millia Islamia violence and people should not pay any heed to social media rumours, Delhi Police PRO M.S. Randhawa said on Monday.
Randhawa maintained that police used "maximum restraint, minimum force" despite being "provoked" by protesters.
"There was no firing; there have been no casualties in Jamia violence. The crime branch will investigate Jamia violence. Thorough investigation will be done and accountability will be fixed," he said at a press conference.
"Four DTC buses, 100 private vehicles and 10 police bikes were damaged during the violence. One policeman is in the ICU," he added.
Randhawa said the police is keeping a watch on social media. "We are monitoring social media. I appeal students and public at large to not pay any heed to rumours," he said.
Protests continue
Braving the freezing cold on Monday morning, hundreds of students, including a group of shirtless young men, poured into the streets outside the Jamia Millia University to protest the police action against their colleagues a day earlier.
The protesters included women students from several states. Local residents and some guardians also came out in the support of protesting students.
A group of students stood shirtless in the bone-chilling cold outside the university gates as gusts of icy, cold wind felt like blows on their bare bodies. Others formed a human chain in huge numbers to protest against the "police brutality".
Slogans of Inquilab Zindabad rent the air as protesting students took out a march, demanding a CBI inquiry into the "police brutality".
Carrying a tricolour, students clapped and raised slogans against the Central government and the Delhi Police. "This government is anti-minority, anti-students, anti-poor. We won't tolerate this. Won't keep mum," they said in unison.
A few also live-streamed the protest on Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms. A group of students claimed that the police on Sunday damaged two mosques on the university campus, beat up the imam and also a blind student, Arsalan (27), who was in the library.
Anas Siddiqui, a student, added that the police called them "terrorists" and dared them to come out of the campus and face them.
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"Our colleagues have been beaten up badly. The policemen entered bathrooms, libraries and beat up girls. Our protest is against the goons called Delhi Police," a research scholar, who did not want to be identified, said on Monday.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and university Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar did not even bother to visit the injured students, the protesters alleged.
No metro services today
The Jamia Millia Islamia metro station's entry and exit gates were closed on Monday following a protest by students against Sunday's police action.
"Entry and exit gates of Jamia Millia Islamia are closed. Trains will not be halting at this station," Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) tweeted.
