BackDelhi Police under fire for assaulting student protestors outside RSS office
The students were protesting over the suicide of Dalit student Rohith Vemula
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New Delhi: Delhi Police on Monday came under severe criticism after a video emerged in which its personnel were seen thrashing protesters and dragging some women protestors by their hair outside the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) headquarters during a protest over Dalit student Rohith Vemula’s suicide.
The video of Saturday’s incident went viral on social media, triggering sharp reactions, with Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal alleging the police force was being used as RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “private army" under a political dispensation that is at “war" with students across the country.
Two journalists, who alleged they were beaten up while covering the protest, said the police action was “unprovoked" and that the protestors were beaten up mercilessly.
In the 30-second clip, apart from police, some men in civilian clothes are also seen assaulting the protestors. The students were holding a demonstration outside the RSS office at Jhandewalan in central Delhi demanding justice for Vemula, a Hyderabad Central University research scholar who committed suicide in January.
In the video, a constable is seen dragging a woman by her hair and pushing her down.
Delhi Police commissioner B.S. Bassi said he has directed senior officials to investigate the matter and see if there were any “indiscretions". “As soon as I was informed about the video, I spoke to special commissioner of police (law and order) Deepak Mishra, who later asked joint commissioner (central range) S.K. Gautam to look into the matter," Bassi said.
“We will see if there was any indiscretion. We shall also talk to some of the eyewitnesses apart from analysing the content of the video," Bassi said.
At a press conference, Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh said BJP and RSS workers were also involved in assaulting the students along with police. The Congress party called the incident a “brutal assault" by police on a group of “unarmed protestors" and demanded action against guilty policemen. PTI
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