Shaheen Bagh firing: JNUSU condemns 'partisan attitude' of police, demands action to stop such attacks

After a man fired aerial shots at a protest site in Shaheen Bagh on Saturday, the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) condemned the "partisan attitude" of the police and demanded urgent action to stop such attacks.

"There are reports of another firing incident from Shaheen Bagh. A man has fired on the protestors in front of the police barricades. Before being taken into custody he allegedly chanted, 'Desh me sirf hinduon ki chalegi'. This is the second incident in a disturbing trend of targeting protestors through the use of incitement to violence," read a statement from JNUSU.

It further stated that the rally by BJP MP Anurag Thakur "exhorting the BJP-RSS supporters to take the law into their own hands has clearly not been an empty slogan."

"BJP leaders from Kapil Mishra to Ajay Singh Bisht are repeatedly making anti-Muslim remarks which are being used as fodder for the intensification of violent and hate-filled campaign on the eve of elections. The police is clearly a collusive presence in these incidents at the behest of the government... The JNUSU condemns the partisan attitude of the police and demands urgent action to stop such attacks," it added.

JNUSU appealed to the student community to rally in support of Shaheen Bagh protestors, who have been staging demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) for over a month.

The police have detained the man, identified as Kapil Gujjar, a resident of Dallupura village near Delhi-Noida border, said Chinmoy Biswal, DCP, South-East.

Gujjar told the police that he was angry with the traffic blockade as his cousin's wedding is approaching and he had to run around a lot to make arrangements, police sources said.

"The police personnel overpowered and detained him on the spot while he was firing in the air. He is being interrogated. He said that his name is Kapil. An FIR is being registered and further investigation is underway," Biswal said.

According to Delhi Police sources, Kapil has told the police that the protest at Shaheen Bagh caused traffic jams in the area. His cousin sister's wedding was coming up and he used to get stuck in traffic for hours while going to Lajpat Nagar to make arrangements. Hence, he took this step and fired shots in the air.