Delhi chapter of AMU alumni body writes to President Ram Nath Kovind, urges judicial probe into campus violence

New Delhi: Condemning the violence on the Aligarh Muslim University campus, the Delhi chapter of the AMU Old Boys Association (AMUOBA) has demanded a time-bound judicial inquiry and immediate arrest of persons involved in the 2 May incident. In a meeting held in New Delhi on Sunday, the Delhi chapter of the alumni association also passed a resolution, to be submitted to President Ram Nath Kovind, with their demands. [caption id=“attachment_3011424” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Aligarh Muslim University. amu.ac.in[/caption] Violence broke out on the AMU campus on 2 May after a row over Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s portrait on the campus triggered a right-wing protest. At least six persons were injured when police lobbed teargas shells to disperse AMU students, who demanded the arrest of the protesters who had earlier barged into the campus. “The association is deeply aggrieved by the partisan role played by the Aligarh police and the brutal lathi-charge on AMU students who were protesting the police inaction. More than a dozen students were seriously injured,” the Delhi chapter of AMUOBA, which was formed in 1973, said in a statement on Monday. “The association demands immediate arrest of those who tried to attack former vice-president Hamid Ansari and barged into the campus brandishing weapons and shouting provocative slogans, thereby leading to an extremely volatile situation. “A time-bound judicial inquiry is also among the foremost demands. AMUOBA also demands action against the policemen who were complicit in what appears to be a coordinated and politically motivated attack on the university,” it said. The Delhi chapter, an offshoot of the 1899-formed AMOUBA, also demanded that the cases against AMU students be withdrawn. “The said demands must be met the soonest if the (Aligarh) district administration wants to restore the confidence of the AMU community in the administration and peace to prevail,” the statement added. Amid a major protest by the students and boycott of academic activities, which has resulted in the postponement of the examinations that were scheduled to begin today, the AMOUBA appealed to the Aligarh district as well as the AMU administration to ensure that academic activities and annual exams are resumed as soon as possible. “We request the media, particularly the TV news channels, to present the facts regarding AMU with fairness and without any bias,” it requested, in the wake of purported video clips on social and broadcast media showing students raising slogans of ‘Azadi’ (freedom). The university officials, as well as its former vice-chancellor Lieutenant General (retired) Zameer Uddin Shah, have earlier clarified that the slogans by students demanding “azadi” was “freedom from right-wingers and unfair treatment”. On 5 May, the AMU Alumni Association of Maharashtra had also demanded a judicial probe into the violence on the varsity campus and called for “strictest possible action” against the culprits. Meanwhile, security arrangements in Aligarh were stepped up last evening after some youths took out a procession on motorcycles in sensitive areas and later made an abortive attempt to take out a procession from the Varshney Degree College to “vent their anger” over the Jinnah portrait finding a place in the university. Two youths, including a former Hindu Yuva Vahini city unit chief, have been arrested in connection with the violence in the Aligarh Muslim University on 2 May for allegedly trying to breach the peace and posting inflammatory material on social media, the police said.