Delhi University students come out in support of Jamia, condemn CAA

A section of Delhi University (DU) students on Tuesday protested against the amended citizenship law and condemned the police crackdown on Jamia Millia Islamia students.

The protest was organised by the Left-backed All India Students' Association and women's collective Pinjra Tod, who claimed that Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists targeted "women wearing hijab", a charge denied by the RSS-affiliate.

According to a member of Pinjra Tod, there were around 400 students who participated in the anti-CAA protest and they held a march from the DU arts faculty to the Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station.

Police had placed barricades between the protesters from Pinjra Tod and the ABVP, which was holding a demonstration in favour of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, she said.

"The ABVP was deliberately targeting Muslim students. Women in hijab and men with beards were targeted in the protest against the Citizenship Act.

"Two female students and a male student filed complaints at the Maurice Nagar police station," the Pinjra Tod's member said.

However, ABVP state media in-charge Ashutosh Singh denied the allegations and said his organisation's protest had ended even before the anti-CAA protest began. Most ABVP activists had left, he said.

"They are trying to give a religious angle to the CAA protest. The ABVP has always respected religious symbols and we will never do so," Singh said.

On Monday, students from the political science and the history departments of DU had boycotted exams in solidarity with the students of Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University.

In Ambedkar University, the students had also orgnaised protest meetings against CAA and in support of students of Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University.