‘I have 4 broken fingers now’: Tales of horror from library

NEW DELHI: Sajid Iqbal stands with a plastered arm as the students protest outside the Jamia campus on Monday. Some of his friends gather around him to comfort him as his hand rests with a sling. Sajid, a Diploma electrical second-year student has a horror library story to narrate. He was among those students who

locked themselves inside the Jamia library when the Delhi police entered the campus.

“The Police came barging in with batons, I tried to run but they kept on hitting me. There were several others like me who tried to get some cover. They hit me on my hand several times, I have four fractured fingers now, only my thumb is working,” Sajid recalls the fateful Sunday evening which led the Delhi police to enter the Jamia campus and inside the

library.

Sajid is not alone, Mohd Abuzar Akhtar, a Sanskrit certificate course student said that he was studying in the library since 3 pm and it was around 5:30 pm when they started hearing loud sounds of tear gas shells.

“Police fired many tear gas shells, we were suffocated.

There was total panic in the library, students tried to run outside breaking glasses. Then the police broke the glass and entered inside and asked us to vacate the library leaving back our books and bags. We were mercilessly beaten up after the cops rounded us up in a round circle. I have injuries on my head and back,” said Abuzar.

Mohd Asif, a third year B.com student could barely walk when he entered a protest site at Jamia on Monday, two of his friends had to support him from either side.

“I kept pleading them that I was studying, the cops abused me and started thrashing me with batons. Almost seven policemen started beating me, I could barely walk,” Asif said, resting his head on his friend's shoulder.