Do police have the powers to enter a university campus? This is the question that is being debated over following police action inside Jamia Millia Islamia University campus on Sunday evening.
Scriptwriter-lyricist and former parliamentarian Javed Akhtar fuelled the debate with a tweet on Monday evening. He wrote on the micro-blogging site: "According to the law of the land under any circumstances police cannot enter any university campus without the permission of the university authorities. By entering the Jamia campus without permission police have created a precedence that is a threat to every university."
Javed Akhtar's comment evoked sharp responses from many including some police officers. "Dear Legal Expert, Please elaborate the law of land, the section number and name of the Act etc so that we are also enlightened. Regards," responded IPS officer Sandeep Mittal from his verified handle while taking a jibe at Javed Akhtar's tweet.
Earlier, Jamia Millia Islamia Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar demanded "a high-level inquiry" into the police crackdown on university students saying police did not have permission to enter the campus.
"Police entered the campus without permission. We will not tolerate police presence on campus. They scared our students with police brutality. There has been huge damage to university property," said Najma Akhtar, adding, "We will file an FIR on damage of property and police action on students."
University campuses are generally believed to be "police-free spaces". This comes from the belief that police means surveillance and students need free environment for attaining optimum freedom of thought. This is to the extent that most university and college campuses employ private security guards - in many cases retired army personnel - for safety and security of students and the campus.
WHAT DOES LAW SAY?
As per Supreme Court lawyer Atul Kumar, "But there is no law that prevents police from entering any place, including the university campuses if they need to do so."
Kumar said, "If police get information from any source that something wrong is happening or is about to happen, they are bound by the law to do everything within the limits of law to ensure that peace is not disturbed. University is not an exception in the eyes of laws that give the power of arrest to the police."
The University Grant Commission's 2016 guidelines on safety of students on and off campus too do not mention any restriction on police from entering a university campus. The current SOP of police seeking permission is merely an understanding between the local police and the university.
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"Even if a university frames a rule prohibiting police from entering the campus without permission, it is redundant. The CrPC will prevail over any such law," said Kumar.
Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) grants elaborate powers of arrest to police with or without a warrant from a magistrate. In general, Section 41 of the CrPC authorises police to make arrests.
Section 46 of the CrPC allows police to use force to arrest a person who forcibly resists police action. Similarly, Sections 47 and 48 of the CrPC give police officers power to "pursue such person into any place in India" who the police have the reason to believe that the person has entered or is hiding in any place.
"The only restriction on police in uniform is the case where the person to be arrested is a juvenile. So, if a university student is juvenile, he or she must be arrested by juvenile police by the rulebook. But juvenile police is found in the rulebook only. Regular police arrest juveniles too but they have to be in plain cloth," Kumar said.
Police action in Jawaharlal University campus in 2016 was also questioned. Back then, a case of sedition had been registered against some JNU students. The Jamia case has put the Delhi Police back in the dock in public eye.
Was Delhi Police wrong in entering Jamia campus even if it did not commit illegality?
"Police generally don't enter university campuses as action against students tends to backfire and lead to a bigger law and order situation. Police usually try to refrain from entering campuses for practical reasons. Jamia was an active situation, the police officials on duty are legally empowered to make this call on the basis of their assessment of the situation. If they thought so, it is not illegal," Kumar explained.
For record, police had launched a massive crackdown in 1974 against students in Bihar and Gujarat where university campuses saw massive protests over various issues. Police action against students attracted attention of mass leaders, including freedom fighter Jaiprakash Narayan, who turned students' anger over local issues into a nationwide political movement against the then Indira Gandhi government.
In 2016-17, security personnel and police had entered a college campus of the University of Pulwama to arrest students who had been booked for raising anti-India slogans.
The incident of raising slogans was not taken much note of by other students initially, but after police entered the campus, students from the entire Kashmir Valley hit the streets and pelted stones at security personnel.
It took many weeks to bring down tempers of the students in the Valley.The police action against JNU students in another case of slogan shouting generated strong pro-student sentiments across the country.
The police action in the Jamia campus evoked protests in nearly 20 university campuses across the country though students in these universities were silent for the first two days when the Jamia students staged protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act with no police action.