Stone-pelting in Delhi's Seelampur over CAA; cops use tear gas
Agitation against the Citizenship Act turned violent in New Delhi, again, after protesters allegedly pelted stones at cops and they used tear gas to disperse them away. As per reports, two policemen were injured today. This comes merely two days after personnel of Delhi Police barged into Jamia Millia Islamia University and assaulted students after a march took a violent turn. Here's what happened.
Cars were damaged, small fires dotted roads; police retaliated
A senior police officer said the protest started around 12 pm. The protesters raised slogans against National Register of Citizens (NRC), Citizenship Act, and the BJP-led Centre. But soon the protest got "out of hand", a resident named Azib Aman told Reuters. Rocks and small fires dotted the roads. In a bid to push back protesters who were approaching barricades, police fired tear gas.
Here are the visuals from the spot
Watch: Protesters chase cops, throw stones
Metro services also took a hit
As Seelampur remained tense, DMRC revealed entry and exit gates will remain closed at Welcome, Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpu stations. Trains will not halt at these stations either. Similarly, entry and exit gates of Seelampur, Gokulpuri, Johri Enclave, and Shiv Vihar stations were closed too.
Just day before yesterday, cops thrashed students
To recall, protests against the Citizenship Act spilled to the national capital this weekend when students of Jamia participated in the agitation. However, on Sunday, they had to meet with police excesses and nearly 50 of them were detained. Police's condemnable act sparked another massive protest wherein thousands gathered at headquarters in ITO. Subsequently, the detained students were released from Kalkaji and NFC stations.
For Jamia violence, police arrested 10, none are students
Ridiculed after the Jamia episode, Delhi Police claimed it was only doing its job and had the motive of pushing back protesters. Subsequently, two FIRs pertaining to property damage were registered. Notably, 10 people, none of them students of Jamia, have been arrested. Reportedly, three of the arrested men have criminal backgrounds and all of them would be handed over to the crime branch.
Meanwhile, on Jamia matter, SC didn't take any action
While Jamia's incident enraged students across India, Supreme Court said the petitioners should have approached high courts first. To recall, senior lawyer Indira Jaising mentioned the matter yesterday, and the top court gave today's date. After hearing the allegations of police brutality, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde commented, "We don't want to spend time knowing facts, you should go to courts below first."
