Delhi Police has reportedly arrested as many as 10 people with criminal backgrounds in connection with the December 15 Jamia Millia Islamia University violence.

No student has been arrested. However, the police have ruled out giving them a clean chit for the violent protests.

“Out of the 10 arrested, three are bad characters of the area. They were identified and put under arrest,” said a senior police officer, adding that none of them are Jamia students.

He also said raids are being carried out in various parts of Delhi’s southeast districts to nab those who indulged in violence during protests.

The Delhi Police had registered two separate cases in connection with the clashes at Jamia Millia Islamia University on Monday morning.

The first case was filed at New Friends Colony police station for arson, rioting, damage to government property and obstructing government work. The second case was filed at Jamia Nagar police station for riots, stone-pelting and obstructing government work.

Violence erupted following a clash between police and Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) students who were protesting against the amended Citizenship Bill on Sunday evening. At least five buses were set ablaze. Police used batons and teargas and were seen chasing protesters through the streets in southeast Delhi’s Mathura Road.

Petrol bombs targeted police personnel, ordinary citizens and the media as a raging mob that seized parts of south Delhi refused to let go.

However, the students have claimed that they had distanced themselves from resorting to violence.

A statement issued by the Jamia Milia University said that students were not involved in the burning of buses. “It is done by some outsiders who want to disrupt the peace in the university and the locality around it.”

As many as 50 detained students of Jamia Millia Islamia were released early Monday even as the situation in the University remained tense after violent protests over the amended Citizenship Act, police said.

A day after violent protests in and around the campus, Jamia Millia Islamia Vice Chancellor Najma Akhtar on Monday said the university will file an FIR against the forcible entry of police into the library and assaulting the students studying there.

The Vice-Chancellor, at a press briefing, said the police officials had entered the university campus without due permission from the administration.

She also demanded a high-level inquiry into the incident.

The chief proctor of Jamia Millia Islamia had also earlier accused the Delhi police of forcefully entering the university campus and beating up the students.

On reports of bullet injuries to two protestors in Sunday’s incident, the Delhi Police has maintained that no bullet was fired on the demonstrators, adding that only tear gas shells were used to disperse the violent mob which was pelting stones at the force.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also reiterated the Delhi Police’s stand. It said that all the 10 persons detained have criminal background while adding that more anti-social elements are being tracked.

Following police action at Jamia Millia, protests also erupted at Aligarh Muslim University, Hyderabad’s Moulana Azad National Urdu University, Banaras Hindu University and Lucknow’s Nadwa College.

Several parts of India have been witnessing violent protests ever since the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha last week. The situation further escalated after the bill was cleared in Rajya Sabha.

The Bill, which has now become an Act, will provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists fleeing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.