Shoot-at-sight in 4 Delhi areas; toll climbs to 11

-1985-batch officer SN Shrivastava made Special Commissioner, Law and Order

-Jaffarabad metro station cleared of CAA protesters; journalists attacked by mobs

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Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 25

The Delhi police late Tuesday issued shoot-at-sight orders in four areas of northeast Delhi — Bhajanpura, Maujpur, Khureji Khas and Chand Bagh — where looting, arson and rioting of unprecedented scale were reported throughout the day even as the toll in the violence over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) climbed to 11. The orders were issued soon after the Home Ministry appointed SN Shrivastava, an 1985-batch IPS officer, as Special Commissioner (Law and Order), Delhi.

Parallel to the appointment of Shrivastava, the Jaffarabad metro station was cleared of women camping there for anti-CAA protests since Saturday, leading to counter-agitations on Sunday that triggered the violence. At least two journalists were severely injured and three more attacked as they filmed the violence, much to the chagrin of rioters who destroyed the video evidence.

JK 24X7 News channel reporter Aakash was shot at and is recovering at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital here while NDTV’s Arvind Gunasekar lost three front teeth in an assault near Maujpur. He would need corrective surgery. Prohibitory orders remained in force in northeast district but images of rampaging mobs kept streaming across social media and news spaces, putting a question mark on the enforcement of Section 144,CrPC.

Delhi police sources said 56 cops and 130 civilians had been injured in attacks that started on Monday and were carried out today by rival mobs from different communities, attacking people, looting passersby, torching houses and shops and targeting religious sites.

Medical Superintendent og Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital confirmed 11 deaths and said people were still reporting with pellet and gunshot injuries. “It is going to be a long night for the doctors at GTB hospital,” said a hospital source. Social media platforms carried shocking images of smoke billowing from Gokulpuri tyre market which was torched on Monday, burnt down houses and rampaging mobs wielding rods and sticks.

As many as 6,000 armed police personnel, including paramilitary, were deployed across northeast district with Amulya Patnaik asserting that the Delhi Police were not short of force after eyewitness accounts pointed to skeletal police presence at sensitive locations.

In Maujpur, Bhajanpura, Khajuri Khas, Karawal Nagar, Chand Bagh, Noor-e-Ilahi mosque and Jaffarabad, rioters from both communities checked identities of people before letting them enter or cross the area. Stone-throwing incidents were reported too. The police resorted to teargas shelling in Chand Bagh where several shops were reported damaged. Many houses were said to have been burnt in Karawal Nagar with Delhi Fire Department Director Atul Garg saying they had sought police protection after fire control vehicles were prevented from entering affected areas.

Protesters had on Monday burnt down a fire tender, injuring some firemen.