Rahul’s dharna spurs FIR in pellet gun case
The Delhi Police on Friday registered an FIR in connection with pellet injuries suffered by a youth during the July 20 protest at Jantar Mantar, after a six-hour dharna by Rahul Gandhi along with a pellet-gun victim outside Parliament Street police station.
The high drama led to a political slugfest between the BJP and Congress, with the former accusing the Opposition of indulging in ‘cheap and anarchic politics’ and the latter charging the ruling dispensation with communalising the situation in the country, evading accountability and raising non-issues.
Rahul, accompanied by the pellet victim, 19-year-old Sahil Lochab and his mother, first visited the Mandir Marg police station and sought the registration of the FIR. After his demand was not accepted, he went to the Parliament Street police station and met Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Sachin Sharma. After the discussion with Sharma failed to yield results, the Congress leader, along with Lochab, sat on a dharna at the police station, which also houses the DCP office. “I will sit on dharna outside the police station even for 30 days or six months if you don’t register an FIR,” Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had warned the police.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and other senior party leaders also joined the dharna.
With the police claiming that the matter is being investigated and no FIR can be booked, Gandhi, along with Sahil and his mother, then sat on dharna at the police station premises, with several Congress leaders joining him.
The Parliament Street police station turned into a protest venue. “We came here at around 11:30 this morning. He has been going around for a month, and we arrived at around 11:30. Now it is 6:30, almost 7 pm, and only then has the FIR been registered... This is a police station right in the heart of New Delhi, and justice is not being delivered here. Now imagine what happens at a police station in a village or a small town. We have done nothing wrong here. We have only sought justice for an Indian citizen, for his mother and for his father. There are several rape victims and victims of intimidation, and they continue to fight while seeking justice,” the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said.
Soon after the police registered the FIR late in the evening, Rahul ended his dharna and said this is the first step towards justice and ended his dharna.
He said the final FIR was registered only after an okay from the Home Secretary and Amit Shah. “You can imagine who was stopping the registration of an FIR, as these cops wanted to do so but they were not allowed. Targeting the Home Minister, Rahul asked why Shah is so afraid of justice.
“There are pellets in his body, and he cannot even see, as he has suffered injuries in his eye. This is injustice to this youngster. For almost a month, he has been calling for the registration of an FIR and moving from one police station to another. Turning to the victim’s mother, who also sat on the protest, Rahul asked her, “Are you happy now?” The Congress leader, who had earlier alleged that police are “under pressure from the top” for not registering a complaint, claimed that the FIR was lodged only after clearance from top authorities in the Home Ministry.
Visuals showed Rahul walking into the police station with Lochab and others, taking the officials by surprise. As the cops refused to register an FIR, Rahul staged a sit-in outside the police station in protest. Rahul said he would stay put at the police station until the complaint was formally registered.
As the sit-in dragged on for several hours, a waiting Rahul Gandhi, along with the victim, stepped in front of a swarm of cameras and microphones and held up a small plastic box. Opening the box, he spilt the contents onto his palm and showed them to the reporters. “Ye hai pellets, dekh lijiye inko, achhi tarah se dekh lijiye, ye hain pellets (These are pellets; take a look at them - look at them closely - these are pellets),” he said. This was the first time the pellets were displayed publicly.
Where did they (pellets) come from? The Congress leader asked and then answered it himself. Ye inke shareer se aaye (These came from his body),” Gandhi said, urging the student to show the injuries. The Student, who was wearing dark glasses, then rolled up his T-shirt sleeve and showed the injuries. “Ye inke yahan lage hain charre. 200 charre inke shareer ke andar hain aur teen charre inki aankh main hai (These pellets are lodged in his body. There are 200 pellets inside him and three are lodged in his eye),” Rahul said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police said that an FIR has been registered under sections 118 (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 25 (act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The Delhi Police had earlier informed the protesting Congress leader that the Supreme Court has constituted a High-Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) to examine allegations of excessive and disproportionate use of force by the police and paramilitary forces during the student protests, as it refused to file the FIR.
The high drama by Rahul Gandhi led to a political slugfest between the BJP and the Congress here. Addressing a press conference here, senior BJP leader and MP Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed that Gandhi was staging the protest to divert attention as the Congress had realised that its stand on the Vande Mataram issue was wrong. “I have my doubts and allegations that the Congress is trapped over its stand on Vande Mataram and is trying to divert attention,” he told reporters.
Prasad added that the matter was also before a high-powered committee constituted by the Supreme Court in connection with the case. “Congress has become a party driven by Rahul Gandhi’s appeasement politics,” Prasad said.
Accusing the ruling party of communalising the situation in the country, evading accountability and raising non-issues, the Congress asserted that the dharna would continue till an FIR is registered by Delhi Police over pellet injuries suffered by a youth, 19-year-old Sahil Lochab, during the CJP-led July 20 protest. “Our demand is simple -- register an FIR and give us the FIR number. LoP Rahul Gandhi is giving voice to this demand,” Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh told reporters at the Parliament Street police station.
