25 broken CCTVs in Jamia’s Rs 2.66-crore damage bill to HRD

According to the estimate submitted by Jamia, public property worth Rs 2,66,16,390 was damaged in the violence. The university has specified that the damage “occurred due to Delhi Police action on December 15, 2019”.

3 min readNew DelhiFeb 19, 2020 04:25 AM IST First published on: Feb 19, 2020 at 04:25 AM IST

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CCTV grab of a policeman in riot gear smashing a camera.

JAMIA MILLIA Islamia suffered damage to property worth Rs 2.66 crore during police action inside its premises on December 15 last year, according to an estimate submitted by the university to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

This included damage to 25 CCTV cameras worth Rs 4.75 lakh.

Over the last few days, several video clips from Jamia’s CCTV footage have been released, which show uniformed personnel raining lathis on students as well as damaging property, including hitting CCTV cameras with lathis, in the university library.

Police have maintained that some of the videos appear edited and they are still ascertaining their authenticity.

According to the estimate submitted by Jamia, public property worth Rs 2,66,16,390 was damaged in the violence. The university has specified that the damage “occurred due to Delhi Police action on December 15, 2019”. While the university has said security personnel entered without permission, police maintain they were in pursuit of “rioters” and entered the premises as a result.

Just days after the violence, university authorities had told The Indian Express that property damage was around Rs 2.5 crore, and that more detailed calculations would be done. Librarian Tariq Ashraf had then said, “Most of the damage in the library is due to breaking of glass panes. Some of the other things damaged are CCTV cameras and tubelights, etc. But thankfully no books or manuscripts were touched.”

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A detailed break-up suggests that library equipment, doors, window panes, AC units, electrical system, chairs, tables, lights and mirrors were damaged. According to the university’s estimates, equipment worth Rs 55 lakh was also damaged.

Similarly, 75 doors worth Rs 41.25 lakh; 220 window panes worth Rs 22.5 lakh; railings worth Rs 18 lakh; hardware worth Rs 15 lakh and 35 library tables worth Rs 14 lakh were damaged in the violence. The university also saw 175 chairs worth Rs 7 lakh, “toilet items” worth Rs 6 lakh, vegetation worth Rs 7.5 lakh, tiles worth Rs 8 lakh, and 15 aluminium doors worth Rs 4.5 lakh being damaged.

Loss has also been incurred on account of paint peeling off the walls, estimated to be around Rs 22.5 lakh. Jamia also incurred damage to 165 lights (Rs 12.4 lakh), stone coping (Rs 3.8 lakh), false ceiling (Rs 5.5 lakh) and kerb stones (Rs 2.5 lakh). Apart from this, 75 mirrors estimated to cost Rs 72,630 and 180 glass films costing Rs 72,000 were also damaged.

University officials said that while the glass panes outside the library had been repaired, there has been no renovation inside. The damaged property has been left as it is, to aid investigation, officials said, adding that no compensation had been received from any quarter till date.