HC notices to Centre, AAP govt, police as injured Jamia student seeks compensation

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought responses of the Centre, the AAP government and the city police on a plea by a Jamia Millia Islamia student seeking compensation for injuries suffered allegedly in police action against anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act protesters on December 15 last year.

A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar was initially of the view that the petitioner ought to have filed a civil suit if he was seeking compensation as the claims made by him would have to be proved through evidence which cannot be done in a writ petition.

"These are matters of evidence. Why are you not filing a suit for damages? On the basis of annexures in a writ, claims cannot be proved," the court said and added that "it has become a fashion in Delhi to file a writ for everything".

However, the bench subsequently issued notices to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the university, the Delhi government and the police seeking their stand on the plea in which the student has alleged his both legs got fractured in the "brutal violence carried out" by security personnel.

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In his plea filed through advocate Nabila Hasan, Shayaan Mujeeb has contended that he was in the university library on December 15, 2019 studying, when police personnel entered the building and allegedly beat up the students there. Hasan told the bench available CCTV footage show the police entering the library and beating up the students.

Apart from seeking a Rs 2-crore compensation for the injuries suffered, Mujeeb has also sought registration of an FIR for the offences allegedly committed by the police.

The petitioner has also sought reimbursement of Rs 2 lakh, claiming he spent the amount on treatment of his broken legs, in one of which a rod has to be inserted due to the severity of the fracture.

Earlier, another student, Mohd Minhajuddin, had moved a plea seeking a probe into the incident and demanding compensation for injuries he suffered. Minhajuddin, according to his plea, lost vision in one eye in the incident.

On December 15 last year, a protest against the CAA near Jamia turned violent, with demonstrators pelting stones at police and setting public buses and private vehicles on fire.

Police later entered the university, firing teargas shells and baton-charging students. Several students, including the petitioner, were injured in the police crackdown.

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