It was a Sunday like no other for the students, teachers and administrators at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
Since the 11th of December the university had been loud with its dissent against the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in the upper house of the Parliament, and Sunday the 15th saw three protests on campus, one of which was organised by the teachers.
The Proctor, while speaking to The Logical Indian said that he was very content with his teamâs management skills as all the protests until then had been executed and wrapped up peacefully.
However, calling social media a âsocial evilâ, the administration was stunned by the sudden mobilisation of students in the campus.
Messages about the policeâs brutality in Delhiâs Jamia Millia Islamia had spread like wildfire in AMU and a large group of enraged students gathered without intimating the authorities.
The university has an official procedure for conducting any protest-like activity and the Public Relations Officers told The Logical Indian that the university had never denied permission to any group of students.
âWe live in a democratic country and believe in practising democracy in the university as wellâ, Shafiq Kidwai said.
But the administrative powers claimed to be shocked by the unanticipated rally of students. âI only had 10-15 minutes to respond to the situation. I work with a team of 10, but on that evening I took 20 staff members with me to control the matterâ, Afifullah Khan, the Proctor of Aligarh Muslim University said.
The tale of the fateful night of 15th December, as narrated to us by the authorities, had students playing the antagonist while the police were the maintainers of law, order and peace.
Interestingly, the studentsâ version of the same story presented a diametrically opposite picture.
College Authorities: Students Vilified, Police Hailed
Section 144 was imposed in AMU since 12th December and the police, along with the Rapid Action Force (RAF), were stationed right outside of the universityâs main entrance, Bab-e-Syed, from the day the protests erupted.
The 13th of December saw a very big rally within the universityâs premises. There were simultaneous protests occurring outside of the campus and within the borders of the city.
The police had erected a barrier between the dissenters at Bab-e-Syed and the outside world, and it was being strengthened over the days to prevent any person from pouring into the university from the other side of the authority-imposed barricade.
The imposition of Section 144 was the main reason why the college administration did not allow any studentsâ group to take their anger outside of the main gate.
The Proctor had done his best to maintain order in the university and the students had respectfully obliged, but Sunday evening was unprecedented for him.
âWe had successfully completed three protests that day â one at 12 pm, 2 pm, and a teachersâ demonstration at 4 pm. But somewhere around 7:30 pm, everyone was abuzz with news about Jamia Millia. Mostly rumours. The agitated students gathered to march towards the gateâ, Khan said.
âThe police barricade was erected 200 metres away from the main gate and the students, this time, wanted to take their agitation to the streets. This was unallowableâ, he added.
Khan and his team claimed that they managed to hold off the students from breaking through Bab-e-Syed for almost 30 minutes. But after half an hour of resisting the movement, his teamâs effort was trumped by the overwhelming strength of protestors, who broke through them and shackled the gate open.
âThe studentsâ act of breaking open the gate allowed outsiders to enter into the university and that is when the matter went out of handâ.
Together with the new external joinees, the students began to pelt stones at the police forces as that was the only blockade left to break in order to take their outrage on the streets.
âThis left the forces with no option but to hit back at the students with tear gas and water cannons. It was only done to ensure that the mob disperses and no one is able to penetrate through their barrierâ, Kidwai, the Public Relations Officer, said.
The college authorities maintained that the forces only pushed the students back inside. However, at 8:45 pm, when the external elements began to âinciteâ the crowd to aggress further, the police entered the campus and began to repress their outrage with whatever means they deemed right.
âThe security personnel outside were worried about damage to the universityâs property and hence, to mitigate such losses, they entered AMUâ, Khan told The Logical Indian.
Things got out of hand when the RAF combined with the state police clashed with the students. The Proctor and his team rushed in between the two clashing parties as a âbufferâ to prevent violence. But amidst such passionate tempers and force, his team of 20 was rendered useless and pushed out of the way in no time.
âThe fighting went on for 3-4 hours that ev…
