Seelampur or Syria? The protests in Delhi were nothing short of a full blown terror attack

Violence over the CAA returned to Delhi even as rioters went on rampage in Seelampur yesterday. The angry protesters (read rioters and hooligans) torched three motorbikes, damaged three buses and two police booths. A mobile toilet was also set on fire. The protesters who were holding a ‘peaceful’ march suddenly turned violent when a heavy mob of around 3,000 people joined them. A police officer said, “We requested them to go back at Seelampur T-point. Protestors ignored our repeated requests and they resorted to stone-pelting. We had to use tear gas to disperse the crowd.” 

A Delhi Police report has revealed that the rioters were Bangladeshi illegal immigrants. The police have registered two FIRs in this case at the Seelampur and the Jafrabad police stations over the widespread violence in Seelampur. The FIRs have been registered under the relevant provisions of IPC for rioting, damaging of public property and use of criminal force against a public servant in order to deter him from discharging his duty. 21 people including 12 police were injured during the rioting and violence. Three RAF personnel were also injured during stone-pelting and vandalism by the rioters. Delhi Police and the RAF have therefore suffered the bulk of damage. It is rather ironic that this has happened at the heels of the Jamia violence after which the left-liberals went full throttle against the Delhi Police blaming it for its alleged “high handed approach”.

In what reveals the violent situation and the cruel character of the mobs, Dara Singh, a constable posted with Seelampur police station said, “I wasn’t expecting that the protest would turn violent in a moment and hundreds of men would turn hostile. They hit us with bricks and stones. We tried to stop them, but they didn’t listen to us.” He added, “I was standing with five to eight other policemen when more than 20 men surrounded us and pelted stones and bricks. Although I was wearing a helmet, a stone hit my left eye and I fell to the ground. I could hear my colleagues trying to pacify the angry crowd, but they were still pelting stones at us. Soon, officers came to my help and took me to the hospital.”

Despite such violence and provocations, Delhi Police remained thoroughly professional and resorted to public announcements from Mosques and madrassas in order to calm tempers. It also took help of the aman (peace) committees to ensure that the charged up atmosphere was cooled down. Not even a single bullet was fired despite the violent mob consisting of thousands of hooligans ran riot and outnumbered the police personnel.

Looking at the visuals of the incident, it is clear that the violence was not spontaneous, rather it was carried out in a well-thought-out and planned manner. The mobs outnumbered the cops and went berserk. Delhi Police had to retreat several times and call for reinforcements. The rioters meanwhile continued to unleash terror. In one of the videos show the Delhi Police personnel can be seen retreating in the face of a rather heavy mob. One of the Delhi Police personnel gets left behind and the mob starts beating him. It seems that there was a prior conspiracy to target the Delhi Police personnel. Another picture from the incident shows that a Delhi Police personnel sustained an injury on his left eye. This shows how strategically the rioters were carrying out stone pelting with the intent of causing grievous injuries to the police officers.

Such was the intensity and ruthlessness of the violent mobs and rioters that they did not even spare a school bus. The bus came under heavy fire of stones that were being pelted by the terrorising mobs. In fact, the DTC bus just behind it sustained heavy damage with its windows smashed by a flurry of stones pelted by the violent mobs. The rioters came with sacks full of stones clearly showing the level of planning that went into the violent rioting that took place in Seelampur.

Eight CCTV cameras installed in and around a booth in the Seelampur area were taken away by protesters. A LED TV for monitoring feed from those cameras was also taken away. The rioters, therefore, seem to have intended to wash away the evidence of their terrorising act.

AAP MLA from Seelampur, Mohd Ishraq Khan, has meanwhile blamed the former MLA, Congress leader Mateen Ahmed for instigating violence in Seelampur. The AAP MLA said, “Former Congress MLA Ahmed took out a bike rally, got shops closed, and the goonda elements in his protest pelted stones and started the violence.” The former MLA has obviously denied these allegations.