[2019 Jamia Violence] Police Did Not Enter Campus To Disperse Peaceful Assembly, Intervened Due To Violent Escalation: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has observed that the Delhi Police did not enter Jamia Millia Islamia University in December 2019 to deal with an otherwise peaceful assembly confined to the campus, noting that the entry took place after the situation outside the university had escalated and protesters had moved into the campus.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Manoj Jain made the observations while dismissing a batch of petitions seeking an independent judicial inquiry into the violence at the varsity in 2019, investigation into alleged police excesses and compensation to injured students.

The Court said the police intervention has to be viewed in the context of the prevailing law-and-order situation at the time.

It noted that the protests on December 15, 2019 had escalated into violence around the university, including incidents of stone-pelting, burning of buses and other vehicles, damage to public property and attacks on police personnel.

“Thus, the police did not enter the University premises at the outset to deal with an otherwise peaceful assembly confined to the campus,” the Court observed.

The Bench, however, simultaneously noted shortcomings in the manner in which the police intervention was carried out.

It referred to the findings of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which had specifically found that the use of tear-gas shells inside the university library could have been avoided.

The Court said the NHRC report was not challenged before it or, as brought to its notice, before any other appropriate forum.

However, it clarified that it was referring to the report only as contemporaneous material relevant to the circumstances surrounding the police intervention and was not treating its findings as conclusive of any individual criminal or other proceedings.

On the right to protest, the Bench noted that the right to peaceful protest was not in dispute but the constitutional protection of peaceful protest does not mean that the State is precluded from intervening when an assembly turns violent.

“Once a gathering ceases to remain peaceful and the circumstances disclose violence, commission of cognizable offences or a threat to life or property, the police cannot be expected to remain inactive or as mute spectator merely because the gathering is taking place within a University campus,” the Court said.

It observed that a University is a place of learning and academic activity, and the said crucial aspect must always be kept in mind while exercising police powers.

“That consideration cannot, however, be taken to mean that the police are prohibited from entering a University campus in all circumstances. Where the situation requires immediate intervention, the police cannot be expected to remain outside merely because the premises belong to an educational institution,” it said.

The Bench observed that the University authorities should be informed and, wherever the circumstances permit, consulted before police intervention.

It added that the Model Police Manual also contemplates informing the head of an educational institution, as far as possible, before entering the premises.

“This requirement cannot, however, operate as an absolute condition in every situation. An immediate threat to life or property, an unlawful assembly, the commission of cognizable offences or a rapidly developing law-and-order situation may leave no time for prior communication or permission. The police may also receive information from sources other than the institution. This, however, does not place police action beyond scrutiny,” the Court said.

The Court also stressed that the events of December 15, 2019 arose from a rapidly developing situation in which a protest in and around the university had escalated into violence and the crowd had moved into the campus.

It held that these circumstances could not, without more, form the basis for prescribing a uniform procedure for police intervention in every educational institution and every situation.

The batch of petitions arose from the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and proposed National Register of Citizens around Jamia Millia Islamia in December 2019.

The Court noted that criminal cases had already been registered, investigation had been conducted by a Special Investigation Team of the Delhi Police Crime Branch and chargesheets had been filed before competent courts. The NHRC had also conducted an inquiry and submitted its report in May 2020.

The Court ultimately dismissed the petitions, holding that there was no ground for directing a fresh independent inquiry, transferring the investigation, awarding compensation, framing fresh guidelines or issuing further consequential directions.