New Delhi: Barely hours after a Jamia Millia Islamia student was injured by a gunman at a march against the divisive Citizenship Amendment Act, the Delhi Police shifted blame onto the protesters amid questions over its failure to thwart the attack despite the attacker brandishing the gun in full public view before firing.
Speaking to News18, DCP South East District Chinmoy Biswal said the gunman was part of the protesting crowd and blamed the organisers of the march for going ahead with the rally to Jantar Mantar despite denial of permission.
“The person brandishing the pistol came out from the crowd of protesters only… Question them (organisers) who made a public call that anybody can join the protest,” Biswal said.
The name of the attacker is being withheld as police are verifying claims that he is a minor.
#EXCLUSIVE – We are ascertaining the identity and details of this person. He has been apprehended: DCP South-East Delhi, Chinmoy Biswas, tells CNN-News18’s @sagargupta281.#CitizenshipShowdown pic.twitter.com/hlkrB7Z2Wv? News18 (@CNNnews18) January 30, 2020
The students were heading from Jamia to Mahatma Gandhi's memorial Rajghat. The march was stopped at the Holy Family Hospital near the university.
"They were being repeatedly told that the protest should be carried out peacefully. We had barricaded the road just before the Holy Family hospital. Meanwhile, a person was seen in the crowd who waved something which appeared to be a weapon… We have detained him and are interrogating him. One person has also been injured," Biswal said.
The attacker had even been live on Facebook barely minutes before opening fire and had even posted updates like ‘Shaheen Bagh, khel khatam’ (game over, Shaheen Bagh). Shaheen Bagh has become the epicentre of resistance in the national capital against the new citizenship law, displacing regularisation of colonies and civic issues as the main poll issue head of the February 8 elections.
Opposition parties, meanwhile, have blamed MoS Finance Anurag Thakur for inciting Thursday’s attack with his ‘goli maaro saalon ko’ slogan at a recent election rally.After learning from the Delhi Police’s preliminary investigation that the shooter in today's incident outside Jamia University is a minor, Network18 has decided not to carry his photograph or name as per the law.
We will continue to report on the police investigation and keep our audience informed about the latest developments.
We thank you for your patronage.
-- Editor
Comments
0 comment