Federation of Central Universities Teachers’ Associations (FEDCUTA), Jamia Teachers’ Association (JTA), Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) and more than thirty organizations wrote a joint statement on Tuesday demanding the constitutional rights of the two arrested Jamia Millia Islamia student leaders, Safoora Zargar, and Meeran Haider be respected and be released forthwith.
The Delhi Police on Saturday arrested Safoora, a media coordinator of the Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC), accusing her of organizing an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest in North East Delhi’s Jaffrabad area. It was after the protest at the Jaffrabad Metro Station, the Hindu mobs conducted anti-Muslim pogrom in the area at the end of February. According to police sources, Zargar can be seen in video footage from the area.
The Delhi Police on April 2 arrested Meeran Haider, another Ph.D. scholar of Jamia Milia Islamia for allegedly “hatching a conspiracy to incite communal riots in northeast Delhi”. Meeran (29) is also the president of RJD youth wing’s Delhi unit.
Both were later sent to police custody by a Delhi court.
“After the peaceful withdrawal of the anti-CAA protest by Jamia students in the wake of the global Corona Virus pandemic, the Delhi Police has begun a retaliatory revengeful action against those who were active in this movement,” the statement says.
The Delhi Police has arrested Safoora Zargar and Meeran Haider on trumped up charges relating to the Northeast Delhi riots and other baseless allegations, the teachers’ associations claimed.
“What is particularly worrying in this entire context is that Safoora Zargar is pregnant and in this condition, she requires proper care and medical supervision. This kind of action during the lockdown due to the Coronavirus is a violation of their constitutional rights,” demand the organizations who drew the attention of “all compatriots who believe in democracy and secularism towards a very important issue”.
The Jamia Coordination Committee (JCC), the students collective who organized anti-CAA protests in the campus and protested against police brutalities against Jamia students, condemned the arrest and demanded their immediate release.
