Delhi Violence: These First Hand Accounts From Jafrabad Detail The Horror Unleashed On Streets
The violence that has been playing out on the streets of Delhi in the past few days is unprecedented, at least in the past few decades. The violence that began on Monday has shown no signs of slowing down and in fact is only turning more violent by every passing hour.
Anindya Chattopadhyay, the assistant photo editor of The Times of India who was in Jafrabad on Monday shared the harrowing experience he went through while covering the riots.
"My horrifying experience began when I reached Maujpur Metro Station around 12.15pm. I was taken by surprise when a Hindu Sena member suddenly approached me offering to put tilak on my forehead saying it would make my work ¡°easier¡±. He could see me with cameras, which identified me as a photojournalist. However, he was insistent. ¡°You are also a Hindu, bhaiya. What is the harm?¡±
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Around 15 minutes later, stone-pelting began between two groups in the area. Amidst slogans of ¡°Modi, Modi¡±, I spotted black smoke billowing in the sky. As I rushed towards the building on fire, a few men near a Shiv Mandir stopped me. When I told them I was going to take photographs, they told me not to go there. ¡°Bhai, aap bhi to Hindu ho? Kyun jaa rahe ho? Aaj Hindu jaag gaya hai. (Brother, you are also a Hindu. Why are you going there? Hindus have woken up today,¡± said one of them.
I stepped aside and after a short while navigated along the barricades to reach the spot. As soon as I started taking photos, a few men wielding bamboo sticks and rods surrounded me. They tried to snatch my camera, but my reporter colleague, Sakshi Chand, stepped in front of me and dared them to touch me. The men decided to slink away. A short while later I realised they were following me. A youth accosted me and asked, ¡°Bhai, tu zyada uchhal raha hai. Tu Hindu hai ya Musalman? (Brother, you are acting very smart. Are you a Hindu or a Muslim?)¡±
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They threatened to take off my pants to confirm my religion. I then folded my hands and said I was just a lowly photographer. They then gave me a few threats, but let me go. I stepped aside and after a short while navigated along the barricades to reach the spot. As soon as I started taking photos, a few men wielding bamboo sticks and rods surrounded me. They tried to snatch my camera, but my reporter colleague, Sakshi Chand, stepped in front of me and dared them to touch me. The men decided to slink away.
A short while later I realised they were following me. A youth accosted me and asked, ¡°Bhai, tu zyada uchhal raha hai. Tu Hindu hai ya Musalman? (Brother, you are acting very smart. Are you a Hindu or a Muslim?)¡± They threatened to take off my pants to confirm my religion. I then folded my hands and said I was just a lowly photographer. They then gave me a few threats, but let me go.
Desperate to leave the area, I started looking for my office vehicle, but it was nowhere to be found. I then walked a few hundred metres towards Jafrabad when I spotted an autorickshaw. The driver agreed to take me to ITO.
I later realised that the name embossed on the auto could land us in trouble with the mob around. As fate would have it, we were soon stopped by four men. They caught hold of our collars to drag us out of the auto. I pleaded with them to let us go, saying I was a press member and the auto driver was innocent.
When the driver dropped me off, I realised he was shaken to the core. ¡°I have never been questioned about my religion in this grotesque manner in my life,¡± he said before parting ways.
Times of India reporter Sakshi Chand also wrote about her experience
Walking from Jafrabad metro station towards Maujpur-Babarpur station, I could never imagine that the second day of the protests would be as ugly as what unfolded in front of my eyes.
As I stood a few metres ahead of Maujpur-Babarpur station, I could hear rounds being fired one after the other. My first instinct was that it was a gun going off, but after seeing a white plume of smoke I realised that police were firing tear gas shells. Minutes later, I saw two men running carrying an injured policeman on their shoulder. The cop was rushed away in a police Gypsy.
Some youths were putting tilak on the forehead of passersby and when they approached me, I politely refused. The loudspeakers at Maujpur Chowk were constantly blaring ¡°Jai Shri Ram¡±.
I soon saw anti-CAA protesters on one side of the road near Kabir Nagar and pro-CAA agitators on the other side. The small bridge over the drain was the only saving grace as police stood guard there creating a no man¡¯s land. Mediapersons trying to move ahead were asked to stay back as stones were being hurled. The stone-pelters were wearing helmets.
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Even as police tried to defuse the situation, news of protesters setting a house on fire spread. I ran towards the chowk and saw a tower of smoke coming out from near a garbage dump. I saw a mob breaking the locks of shops with lathis and throwing something on fire inside.
When I tried to capture it on my cellphone, a youth shouted: ¡°Snatch her phone. The media is recording us and not them.¡± I quietly put away my phone. A mob soon came charging towards us and I managed to hang on to a railing with the help of TOI photojournalist Anindya Chattopadhyay. This happened twice.
I walked back to Maujpur Chowk and saw a 60-strong mob asking a man walking out of Kabir Nagar for his identity and then thrashing him. Police rushed in and the man with a bloody face was carried away by four people. I next saw a man breaking the nameplate of a bakery with the others around him clapping gleefully.
The biggest fear I witnessed was walking out of the area. Walking over the stones and bricks, people thought I was a stone-pelter. Luckily, I and two other reporters managed to reach our car. The fear of a stone being thrown from a rooftop hitting me still haunts me. I will carry a helmet tomorrow.
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Times Now reporter Prashant Kumar who is also on the ground wrote about his experience on Twitter.
They are asking for everyone¡¯s full name, checking the ¡°Kapda¡± and ¡°daadhi¡± before deciding what to do with the reporters! Never have we felt so unsecured in our own city. Was out on streets the whole night ystdy, police virtually allowed people to gather on streets! Appalling! https://t.co/Q6NauAzxFq
¡ª Prashant Kumar (@scribe_prashant) February 25, 2020
They are asking for everyone¡¯s full name, checking the ¡°Kapda¡± and ¡°daadhi¡± before deciding what to do with the reporters! Never have we felt so unsecured in our own city. Was out on streets the whole night yesterday, police virtually allowed people to gather on streets! Appalling!
Vijayta Lalwani, a reporter with Scroll wrote about a middle-aged man with a saffron tikka on his forehead repeatedly asked reporters to stop filming the arson. ¡°Bade dinon ke baad Hindu jaaga hai,¡± he said. ¡°Hindus have woken up after long.¡± He did not want to identify himself, other than as a supporter of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
While they were lucky two others Arvind Gunasekar and Saurabh Shukla of NDTV were beaten up for covering the arson.
Two of my colleagues @arvindgunasekar and @saurabhshukla_s were badly beaten by a mob just now in Delhi, they only stopped beating them after realising they are ¡°our people- Hindus¡±. Absolutely despicable.
¡ª Nidhi Razdan (@Nidhi) February 25, 2020
One more #Journalist attacked.Jk 24X7 news journalist shoot today while coverage . He was covering the #DelhiViolence. Many #Journalist Has been attack in last few days during #DelhiCAAClashes #DelhiBurning . Hope now @IndEditorsGuild will do something and not to be spectator . pic.twitter.com/MN1LqCq5Pd
¡ª Sumit Chaudhary (@sumit0707) February 25, 2020
Akash Napa, a reporter with JK 24X7 news channel was allegedly shot while covering the violence. Akash has been admitted to a hospital and is critical.
