By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: “We hold the police and Home Ministry directly responsible for the on-going communal witch-hunt,” said Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Group today referring to the indiscriminate arresting of persons including Jamia Millia Islamia students following September 19 Batla House encounter.
The group has demanded that according to the National Human Rights Commission recommendations, an inquiry should be conducted into the encounter and FIR should be filed against the police officials involved in the act. This has not been done in the Batla House case.
While making it clear that they are not talking on behalf of Jamia authorities, rather as teachers and citizens of the country, Manisha Sethi (Centre for the Study of Comparative Religions and Civilizations) said Jamia teacher fraternity is deeply concerned over the way people have been arrested, act is still going on.
From left : Manisha Sethi, Adil Mehdi, Prof. A.K. Ramakrishnan, Dr. Anuradha Ghosh
The group said that they would extend legal and other support to the students of Jamia and also financial assistance to their families.
The group also came down heavily on the way of presentation of the news by the media.
The presentation of the news related to the encounter and earlier Delhi serial bombings have caused social division, said Adil Mehdi of Department of English.
Prof. A.K. Ramakrishnan (Centre for West Asian Studies) said the recent witch-hunt following Delhi bombings and Jamia encounter seems to be part of the series of attacks on minorities in the country.
He held responsible the government, police administration and media for creating an anti-minority environment.
Given the questions raised by locals and some sections of the media over the sequence of the encounter, the teachers’ group has demanded independent inquiry into the deaths of Atif Ameen, Sajid and Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma by a panel headed by the sitting judge of the Supreme Court.
The group also demanded publication of the autopsy reports of Sharma, Atif Ameen and Sajid and list of people arrested so far in the connection.
They also demanded that the police administration should provide the university with the list of its students arrested.
The Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Group has vowed to conduct an extensive civil society campaign through programmes like Jan Sunwain in the community.
The Jamia Teachers Solidarity Group has resolved to extend the movement to include teachers from other universities, as well as other bodies such as the DUTA, JNUTA, IGNOUTA, and other democratic and secular individuals and organizations.
The press statement released at the end of the conference read: “We as teachers feel that we cannot afford to isolate ourselves in intellectual ivory towers. There is an urgent need to reach out to the community which lives at our very doorstep, and where a large number of teachers, administrative staff and our students reside. The locality has been besieged by a sense of alienation, terror and insecurity. We unequivocally condemn this brazen witch hunt in the name of fighting terror and pledge solidarity with the people of Jamia Nagar, and especially the families of those whose boys have been picked up and arrested without a shred of evidence.”
The signatories of the statement included more than two dozen teachers of the university. They include Prof. Farida Khan (Faculty of Education), Prof. A. K. Ramakrishnan (Centre for West Asian Studies), Prof. Janaki Rajan (Faculty of Education), Prof. Azra Razzack (Centre for Dalit and Minority Studies), Prof. Navnita Behera (Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution), Dr. Neshat Quaiser (Department of Sociology), Dr. Padmanabh Samarendra (Centre for Dalit and Minority Studies), Dr. Anuradha Ghosh (Department of English), Manisha Sethi (Centre for the Study of Comparative religions and Civilizations) and Adil Mehdi (Department of English).