Author: Correspondent in New Delhi
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: September 23, 2008
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/sep/23delblast2.htm
Within hours of suspending two students who
were arrested in connection with the Delhi serial blasts, Jamia Millia Islamia
University Vice Chancellor Mushirul Hassan declared on Monday night that the
university would defend its students in court.
Asserting that the university's reputation was at stake, he said in a terse
statement, "The university feels morally bound to defend its students
until proven guilty and we will use the legal apparatus for this."
Professor Hassan had himself chaired the meeting
that suspended Mohammad Shakeel, a student of MA (economics) and Zia-ur -Rehman,
a student of final year BA (Pass). But he was persuaded by other faculty members
to provide the arrested students with legal help.
Mohammad Atif Amin, the alleged ring leader
killed in Friday's encounter at Jamia Nagar, was also a student of MA (human
rights) in the university.
Another student, Saquib Nisaar, is in police
custody for his alleged involvement in the blasts. However, the university
has refused to accept that Nisaar is its student without first cross-checking
his name against the students' rolls.
The encounter, in which Atif and another accomplice
were shot dead, took place in the university's neighbourhood. "The incidents
in the neighbouring locality have caused much concern to all of us,"
admitted Vice Chancellor Hassan.
Though the vice-chancellor expressed his "satisfaction
as our students have remained calm and restrained in their conduct,"
the students themselves have been edgy about the entire episode. Concerned
parents are also urging their children to take a few days' leave and go back
home.
Many students, who have been staying in rented
accommodations in Jamia Nagar because of its closeness to the university,
have either gone home or are planning to do so. According to them, it is difficult
to concentrate on studies in such an atmosphere.
Since the shootout, the area has witnessed
heavy police patrolling, checkposts at every corner and regular inspections
in the night.
