Delhi resolution calls for withdrawal of NPR, NRC
NEW DELHI : A 27-year-old man, out to celebrate his MBBS graduation, allegedly beat a man to death with the help of his brothers and three friend on Thursday morning after a spat over refusal of an ice-cream treat. The incident took place in outer Delhi’s Rohini, police said.
The four suspects escaped from the spot after the murder, but the police identified and arrested them within hours after seeking help from eyewitnesses and examining CCTV footage to ascertain the registration numbers of their motorcycles.
The police identified the victim as Amit Sharma, a Rohini resident who ran a motor oil manufacturing unit with his father. The incident started late on Wednesday night, when Sharma was having ice-cream out on the streets of Rohini Sector-6, with his brother-in-law and a friend.
In the same neighbourhood, two brothers — Lakshay and Karan — and their friends, Dhiraj and Avinash, were out celebrating Lakshay’s success in his final year MBBS exams. He had completed his MBBS from a college in Meerut, said the DCP. “After their celebrations, the four visited the icecream stall where Sharma and the other men were already present,” said SD Mishra, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini).
“When the four suspects ordered ice-creams for themselves, they also offered to pay for the ice-creams of Sharma and two other men as part of their celebrations. But Sharma turned down the offer. That led to an argument,” said the DCP.
The altercation was quelled at that time. But the suspects decided to confront Sharma, his brother-in-law and friend soon after.
“The four men intercepted the trio for a second time near a school around 12.30am and attacked them with a stick. Sharma suffered head injuries to which he later succumbed,” said the DCP.
When the police began their probe, they came across an eyewitness who had noted down parts of the registration number of the suspects’ motorcycles. CCTV footage helped investigators ascertain the vehicle registration numbers after which all four were arrested, said the DCP.
The officer said that Lakshay’s brother, 29-year-old Karan, works as a sales executive with a motor firm. The third suspect, Dhiraj too works as a sales executive with another motor firm. The fourth man, Avinash, runs an auto spare parts shop in Mayapuri. slide and unemployment is witnessing a terrifying growth, and with the threat of the corona pandemic looming large”.
“And, if the Centre insists, the process should be carried out in accordance with the 2010 format, with no new fields added to it,” said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi cabinet minister Gopal Rai, who moved the resolution in the assembly. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party opposed the resolution.
States such as Bihar and Maharashtra have passed resolutions asking the Centre to revert to the 2010 NPR format, which contained eight fewer fields than the 2020 one, including controversial questions on birth parents and date of birth.
Delhi became the 11th assembly to pass a resolution against the NRC, which is aimed at detecting illegal immigrants, and the NPR.
Three Opposition-ruled states of Kerala, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh have decided to suspend the NPR. The central government has repeatedly clarified that it had no immediate plans to hold a nationwide NRC, which has only been completed in Assam.
In Delhi, the NPR exercise is supposed to begin on April 1 in the area under the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) with the house-listing phase of Census 2021. The data for NPR was last collected in 2010 along with the house-listing phase of Census 2011.
Speaking in the House, Kejriwal asserted that the NPR, NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which proposes to fast-track the process of citizenship for non-muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan who entered India before December 31, 2014, were linked.
He read out quotes of Union home minister Amit Shah, President Ram Nath Kovind and other central government functionaries and said that the “chronology should be understood”.
“First the CAA was passed, now it is the NPR and finally the NRC will be brought,” Kejriwal said.
The chief minister said Shah told Parliament that no documents will be needed in the NPR process, but never said that the documents will not be required in the NRC process.
He further challenged all the Union ministers to show their birth certificates issued by the government.
In the assembly, Kejriwal asked members to raise their hands if they had birth certificates, following which only nine did so.
“Sixty-one of the 70 members of the House do not have birth certificates,” he said. “Will they be sent to detention centres?”
The chief minister said it was a “myth” that the NPR and NRC would affect only Muslims.
“In Assam, where the NRC was done, 19 lakh people could not make it to the list and were sent to detention centres. Out of the 19 lakh, 14 lakh were Hindus and only five lakh were Muslims. In Delhi there are 40 lakh Purvanchalis [people from the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar], will they be thrown in camps if they are unable to produce the birth certificates issued by the municipal corporations?” he said.
The CM was referring to the final list of the Assam NRC, which was made public on August 31, 2019. Officially, no data is available on the religious break-up of the 1.9 million people excluded from the list, but some politicians have speculated that Hindus outnumber Muslims.
“If you are a Muslim and do not have documents, you will be sent to a detention centre. If you are a Hindu from Pakistan, you will be given citizenship. But if you are an Indian Hindu and do not have documents, you will still be sent to a detention centre… The more I read this act I understand that this law is for the Hindus of Pakistan and against the Hindus of India. What wrong have the Hindus of India done?” the chief minister asked.
During the discussion, the proceedings had to be adjourned for about 30 minutes because AAP MLAS came to the well to protest comments by BJP member from Rohini, Vijender Gupta, on the recent riots in north-east Delhi, which were later expunged from the record.
Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said if the AAP government was so concerned about the people of Delhi, then it should stop providing its freebies to “infiltrators” from neighbouring countries in the city.
“PM Narendra Modi has assured many times in and outside the Parliament that the information given in NPR will not be used against citizens. Its only purpose is to ensure that the benefit of the central government schemes reach the poor. Only yesterday the home minister had stated that no document will be required in connection with filling information in NPR,” he said.
Accusing the central government of lying, Kalkaji MLA Atishi said, “The Union government claims that NPR is being carried out under the Census framework. Census is carried out under the law enacted in 1948. Census data is not to be revealed in the public domain. Census law does not have any reference to NPR at all. NPR comes under the Citizenship Act 1955, amended in 2003.”
Rajendra Nagar MLA Raghav Chadha said, “Hindus are being told that they do not need to worry. But actually, Hindus will be the worst sufferers.”
THE SUSPECTS ESCAPED BUT POLICE ARRESTED THEM WITHIN HOURS AFTER HELP FROM EYEWITNESSES AND EXAMINING FOOTAGE FROM CCTV CAMERAS