Cops do little, hooligans get a free run ‘Cop snatched my phone, pushed me for doing my duty’
LAW AND DISORDER Police stood by as youths pelted stones, manhandled women and abused them
NEWDELHI:The Delhi Police stood and watched as violence took over a peaceful protest on Wednesday afternoon.
A line of police personnel separated two sets of protesters but did little when those on the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) side began reigning blows, abusing women and hurling stones.
This was, however, not the first incidence of cops turning silent spectators to hooliganism in the national capital.
A year after standing by, as lawyers attacked people and the media at Patiala House Court, this time the city police let students bear the brunt of hooliganism by ABVP outside Maurice Nagar police station on North campus.
“Bharat main yadi rehna hoga, vande matram kehna hoga,” shouted the ABVP supporters, swinging the national flag, tied to a sugarcane, followed by pelting of stones as big as bricks and trash on the other side where the other group of students and teachers which included members from AISA (all india students association), SFI (students federation of India) and DUTA (Delhi university teacher’s association) was sitting. The police, however, did nothing accept issuing a mild warning, to stop them.
Another brick flung from the ABVP side, which landed on a woman’s shoulder, a DU student, who was injured. Angry at being provoked, a professor approached the police, asking them to detain the man, but was given a cold look in response. “I did not see him throwing any stone. I can only look in one direction. Where all should I keep my eyes,” the cop on duty snapped.
The remark emboldened ABVP members which carried on with sloganeering. “Afzal ke premiyo ko maza chakha ke rahenge...Bharat Mata ki Jai bulwa ke rahenge” The police personnel smiled.
Instead of detaining the youths who pelted the stones, manhandled women and abused them, the police chose to keep silent.
When asked why the youths from ABVP were not detained, despite being visibly violent, joint commissioner of police, Virender Chahal had no answers. Chahal told this reporter, “Please give a complaint to the police if you have witnessed any violence. We will take appropriate legal action in the matter. We will also provide full security on the campus.”
“The police are hand in glove with these ABVP men. The youth from ABVP just touched me and asked me about how much I charge and when I went to the policeman standing here to complain, he smiled and asked me to let it go. When the ABVP youths started abusing the women, the police personnel went to them and put their arm around their neck, requesting them to stop. Will they protect us?” a professor, who was heckled, said.
Soon after the joint commissioner left the area, the ABVP supporters gathered again and asked the police personnel to give law and order in their hands.
“We will take just five minutes to disperse them. These students think that they will make this university JNU, they have no idea who we are. We will see how they do not utter Bharat Mata ki Jai. They need to be told that this is India and not Pakistan,” an ABVP supporter shouted.
At about 6.30 pm the police started dispersing the crowd. They hit the protesters with lathis, kicked them and even pulled them by their hair. Many media persons were also heckled and thrashed in the process. The ABVP supporters, however, had a free walk.
“If the police have acted in an unprofessional manner then we will take action against them. A detailed inquiry has been ordered under the additional DCP. We have asked TV channels to give us the footage. It will be examined,” special commissioner of police, Dependra Pathak, said. NEWDELHI:As the police woke up around 6 pm to finally take charge of the law and order situation outside Maurice Nagar police station, they started thrashing students and teachers to disperse the crowd. Even the journalists were not spared.
As I jumped in to capture the scene of a student being dragged by her hair, a police personnel, snatched my phone and pushed me forcefully. “What are you doing, I am from the media. I am doing my job,” I shouted. He was, however, in no mood to listen. “We do not care. Why are you recording it? Tomorrow you will portray us in bad light,” he said. As he was about to smash the phone on the ground, a station house officer, I knew, intervened and helped get my phone back.
Another journalist, Somreet Bhattacharya, senior correspondent with Times of India who was trying to click photographs was beaten up. “I was clicking photos of the protest when a policeman snatched my phone. When I protested, I was kicked and pushed,” he said.
Many other journalists, including Heena Kausar, senior correspondent with HT, who was doing a Facebook Live from the spot was heckled by an ABVP supporter and her phone was snatched. Tarini Kumar, a reporter from The Quint, was beaten up, her hair pulled and her phone camera, selfie stick and microphone were smashed.
This is DU and here we won’t allow any antinational to speak. We won’t let DU become JNU... We did not indulge in violence.