Amlendu Bhushan Khan / New Delhi : After 35 years, since the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Delhi is facing a communal riots. One police personnel and eight people died due to clash of two groups and over a 100 including three Journalist injured in violent clashes that continued unabated for a second day on Tuesday. Entire northeast Delhi became the battle ground of the pro CAA and against party.
Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital authorities said four people were declared brought dead by doctors at the hospital on Tuesday, adding to the five that were reported until last evening.
Thirty-five injured people were also brought to the hospital, the authorities added.
“Fifty per cent of those injured sustained bullet injuries,” a doctor at the hospital said.
Fresh violence broke out on Tuesday—the third day of the violence. Thick smoke billowed in the air and mobs roamed unchecked through the streets, pelting stones, vandalising shops and threatening locals.
As tension smouldered in the city’s northeast, rioters damaged two fire tenders in Gokulpuri and crowds raising incendiary slogans set on fire a bike in the epicentre of the trouble Maujpur.
Streets in many parts of the area were littered with stones, bricks and burnt tyres, mute testimony to the spiralling violence and bloodshed that took on a communal taint on Monday and injured about 150 people, including 48 police personnel.
With violence continuing unabated, Union Home Minister Amit Shah convened a meeting with Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi Police chief Amulya Patnaik and others to address the situation.
The meeting resolved that workers of political parties should join hands to restore peace and peace committees should be reactivated in all localities.
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In scenes not seen in the national capital for decades, frenzied groups, armed with sticks, stones and rods, were seen thrashing people on
the road in Maujpur and also venting their ire on e-rickshaws and other vehicles. Many journalists were heckled and told to go back. Schools were shut and fearful residents stayed indoors as restless crowds roamed the streets, seemingly unmindful of prohibitory orders restricting the assembly of more than four people imposed by police on Monday.
Eyewitnesses said the police presence on several riot hit areas was negligible and police action wanting.
Journalists attacked
Journalists covering the violence were attacked. Three journalists — Arvind Gunasekara and Saurabh Shukla from NDTv and Aakash from JK247 News channel we’re assaulted by rioting mobs when they were on the field in northeast Delhi to cover the violence.
All were admitted to hospitals and said to be stable.
Houses were also torched in parts of northeast Delhi, with government sources ruling out calling in the Army.
“There is hardly any police presence in the area. Rioters are running around threatening people, vandalising shops. The law and order situation is extremely bad. Families need to be evacuated. We are unsafe in our own homes,” said a resident of Maujpur, requesting anonymity.
Another added that this is the first time in 35 years—possibly since the 1984 anti-Sikh riots—that he has seen a situation such as this. “The area had always remained peaceful,” he told.
Police sources said 48 police personnel and 98 civilians were injured in Monday’s clashes between pro and anti CAA groups at Jaffrabad, Maujpur, Chandbagh, Khureji Khas and Bhajanpura. Three firemen also received injuries while dousing flames in the area.
The death toll climbed to seven—six civilians and Delhi Police head constable Ratan Lal—on Tuesday, a senior police official said. While Lal died of injuries sustained during stone pelting in Chand Bagh, it is not yet clear what killed the others or who they all were.
The death toll climbed to seven—six civilians and Delhi Police head constable Ratan Lal—on Tuesday, a senior police official said. While Lal died of injuries sustained during stone pelting in Chand Bagh, it is not yet clear what killed the others or who they all were.
Among those killed was Vinod Kumar, a resident of Ghonda who was brought dead to the hospital and whose body is at the morgue of the Jag Parvesh Hospital.
Also killed was Mohammad Furkan from Kardampuri, near Jafrabad, who got married in 2014 and has two children. His brother, Mohammed Imran, overcome with grief, said they were both in the handicrafts business.
“He had gone to get some food for his children. Someone told me he had been shot. I couldn’t believe it as I had met him barely an hour earlier. I kept calling him… I then rushed to GTB Hospital where I was told that he is dead. My world has crashed around me,” he told reporters, sobbing inconsolably outside the hospital.
Imran blamed BJP leader Kapil Mishra’s tweet, giving Delhi Police an ultimatum to clear the streets of protesters and saying people would be quiet only until US President Donald Trump is in India.
“Before that everything was peaceful,” he said.
Wounded being brought to hospitals on bikes, vans
Police said that the wounded are being forced to be brought to hospitals on bikes and vans because of road blockades by protesters.
Constable Amit Kumar, who sustained injury on his right hand while he was trying to disperse two groups pelting stones at each other, was brought to the Jag Pravesh Chander Hospital on a bike.
Kumar, posted at Khurjei Khas area, said, “I was trying to disperse two groups who were pelting stones at each other at Khajuri Khas Chowk and suddenly something hit me from behind. I do not know if it was a stone or something else”.
Kaif (32), who sustained injuries in clashes at Khureji Khas area, was brought by the police in a van at the hospital. The autorickshaw driver was parking his vehicle when a mob of 25 to 30 people attacked him with stones. He said his friend rescued him when he was lying on the ground. He sustained injuries on left side of his face and head.
Another man with suspected gunshot injury was rushed to the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital on a bike by two men.
One of the men who brought the injured to the hospital said the man sustained injuries in firing at Kabir Nagar side of Maujpur Chowk area.
With Trump in the city, Delhi Police ramped up security in the area. It is being assisted by paramilitary personnel.
Officials said police personnel are talking to local peace committees in a bid restore amity.
“Mischief-makers are being dealt with strictly on the spot,” a senior official said.
Though one person seen brandishing a gun has been identified, police has detained him but not officially identified him. There have been no arrests yet.
“There has been a lot of violence. Shops and houses have been damaged. Neither side wins in this violence. We appeal for calm,” Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal told the press hours after a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah.
Kejriwal, who held a meeting with senior officials and MLAs of all parties to discuss the situation, asked people to refrain from violence and said all issues can be dealt with through dialogue.
The chief minister also asked all hospital authorities to give best possible treatment to victims.
He said there is need to seal borders to prevent outsiders from coming and indulging in violence.
A resident in Maujpur said he has seen a riot like situation such as this for the first time in 35 years. “The area had always remained peaceful,” he told PTI, requesting anonymity.
Five stations on the Delhi Metro’s Pink Line were closed for the second consecutive day on Tuesday in the wake of the trouble.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Amit Sharma underwent an operation on Monday night for the head injury sustained during the clashes.
A delegation comprising members of the Jamia Coordination Committee, Jawaharlal Nehru Union Students’ Union, Pinjra Tod, met senior police officials and deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia late on Monday night to raise concerns about the situation.
A delegation comprising members of the Jamia Coordination Committee, Jawaharlal Nehru Union Students’ Union, Pinjra Tod, met senior police officials and deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia late on Monday night to raise concerns about the situation.
Three firemen were injured as the Delhi Fire Service attended to 45 calls from violence-hit northeast Delhi, said a senior fire department officer on Tuesday.
On Monday, the department received 45 calls and in attending to those, a fire tender was pelted with stones while another was torched by protesters.
Three firemen sustained injuries, he added. Two fire tenders damaged in Gokulpuri, bike set ablaze in Maujpur.
Two fire tenders damaged in Gokulpuri, bike set ablaze in Maujpur
Rioters damaged two fire tenders in Gokulpuri in northeast Delhi, fire officials said on Tuesday as violence continued unabated in the area.
An angry mob raising incendiary slogans also set on fire a bike in Maujpur, the epicentre of the clashes over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
‘Stand by the government’
The Congress meanwhile said: “Whatever needs to be done to stop the violence should be done”.
Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala in a statement said the party was willing to stand behind the government to restore communal harmony.
This is no time for blame game and politics, Surjewala said after Congress veteran P Chidambaram said people were paying the price of electing insensitive leaders.
Surjewala said Congress appealed for calm and for people to defeat nefarious communal agenda.
“We appeal to HM Amit Shah and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to rise to the occasion,” Surjewala added.
