From providing shelter to offering first aid, shielding victims from police or taking them to the hospital, residents of Jamia Nagar and New Friends Colony came to the rescue of Jamia Millia Islamia students during Sunday’s violence.

Around 7.30pm on Sunday, Shama Parveen, 52, was sitting outside her house in Ghafoor Nagar, when she saw a group of Jamia Millia Islamia students — many of them injured— approaching. She immediately called her sons to check on them.

Parveen, who has been living a few metres from the university campus for the last 30 years, said she had never witnessed a situation like Sunday’s.

“A group of 50-60 students, both male and female, reached our house. Most of them had injuries on arms and legs. One had a big cut on his ear. We made them sit and offered water. Their eyes were burning because of the tear gas used by the police,” she said

Sitting next to her was her son Malik, who took leave from work on Tuesday in view of the situation. “The group of students swelled into hundreds within minutes. They were all crying and shouting. Many of them had lost their mobile phones and were asking for help to contact their families,” he said.

On Sunday, students were injured when police allegedly barged into the Jamia Millia campus and attacked them. The clash followed a protest organised by students and locals against the Citizen Amendment Act. Police alleged many unruly protesters set vehicles on fire and hurled stones at them.

Shamsul Arifeen, a doctor residing in the locality, said, “I did not have enough medication at home because my clinic is in Kalkaji. But I tried to provide first aid to as many injured students as possible. Four of them had serious injuries, I immediately referred them to hospitals.”

A group of men, standing outside the mosque at the back gate of Jamia Millia Islamia, termed Sunday’s incident “disturbing and shaking”.

“We saw smoke coming out from the windows of the library building. We could hear the screams of students and sounds of tear gas shots. Then we saw students running towards us for help. We took them to a hospital in Shaheen Bagh. Two of them stayed at my home in Batla House till the next morning,” said Shahanawaz Malik, one of the group.

Danish Khan, a first-year MBA student in Jamia, who was present in the campus on Sunday and received injuries on his arms and hands, said, “The locals helped injured students and gave shelter to many. Otherwise, we had nowhere to go.”

Residents of Sarai Jullena and New Friends Colony (NFC) also narrated similar experiences.

Sikha Singh, a resident of NFC and a teacher at a primary school in south Delhi, said, “Around 5 pm, some people entered the compound of my house from the main gate and tried to hide behind the car parked there. My husband rushed out to check and found they were some students of Jamia. He took them inside. They told us they were attacked by the police during a protest. They stayed at our place for couple of hours and then left,” she said.

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