Jamia students arrested without rhyme or reason in Delhi violence case: JCC

The Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC) on Friday said the arrest of two of its members in connection with the February northeast Delhi violence was made "without rhyme or reason".

The JCC is a group comprising students and alumni of the Jamia Millia Islamia, and it was formed in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).

The Delhi Police has booked Jamia students Meeran Haider and Safoora Zargar under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in a case related to the communal violence in northeast Delhi over the CAA.

Haider and Zargar, arrested for allegedly hatching a conspiracy to incite the communal riots in February, are in judicial custody. While Zargar is the media coordinator of the JCC, Haider is a member of the committee.

"This Act (UAPA) has been used against many activists working to protect constitutional morality, a list which now includes members of the JCC, a wholly constitutionalist collective of students and alumni," the committee said.

"Even as the country is burdened by both health and financial crises, the official probe agencies in Delhi are working overtime" in this case, it said.

The police have also booked Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid under the UAPA in the case.

The two Jamia students have been active members of the JCC and have stood firm in the peaceful protests against the "discriminatory" CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC), the JCC said.

Their arrests by the police have little ground, and the charges "seem to have no rhyme or reason", it said.

Zargar was granted bail in the case after she was initially arrested. But later she was arrested again and more serious charges were imposed against her, the JCC claimed.

"The FIR audaciously claims that women and children were brought out to the streets in Jafrabad by these 'conspirators' in order to create riots," it said.

Police officials have claimed that more students from Jamia are under investigation, it said.

The JCC said it played no part in the riots, and "this fact will be proved before any court of law".

"The sustained targeting of activists and protesters, even as actual instigators and perpetrators of violence are left untouched, is only the latest instance of democracy being made a mockery of," it said.

"We ask all political and civil organisations to put out a democratic response...," the JCC said.

It also urged the Jamia Millia Islamia administration "to break its silence and stand with their students in this moment of crisis".