Six protesters who were beaten up allegedly by police during the protests demanding the removal of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar this week narrated their ordeal with Lok Sabha Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi standing beside them on Wednesday.
Since the NEET leak protests in June, Rahul has been holding media interactions in front of Congress parliamentary head Sonia Gandhi’s 10 Janpath residence along with alleged victims of police violence.
The chilling narration on Wednesday was only broken by one of the alleged victims, online content creator Ramit Verma, who played Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan Vaishnav Jan To on his flute during the briefing.
Verma said, referring to his flute: “My response to a baton is a baton. But this is a baton of a slightly different kind — one with a touch of affection. Basically, the answer to hatred will be given with love.”
One of the worst injured was Athira, a Delhi University student from Keralam who was held during a protest by Congress campus arm NSUI at Connaught Place on Tuesday. Rahul said she had lost hearing in one ear.
Athira said: “There was also an SHO (station house officer) at the Connaught Place police station. He told the female police officer to take me to the basement — there was no CCTV cameras there, so they could do anything. They punched me.... I have an issue with my eye as well.... They also hit me on my private parts. I begged them tostop, but then they started kicking my private parts, my lower abdomen and my back. I don’t know why they did it; they didn’t treat me like a human being. They didn’t treat me like a woman. They didn’t even consider me a human.”
NSUI national secretary Ritu Barala, introduced by Rahul as a “sherni (lioness)”, had been seen in videos being dragged by a policewoman by her hair, until she was stopped by the CRPF.
Barala said that Athira was targeted because she tried to shield her.
Barala alleged that a constable whom she identified as Chanchal Yadav stomped on her face so badly that itdrove her earring into her flesh, and had to be surgically removed.
She added: “Chanchal Yadav locked me in a room and beat me severely; I was struck repeatedly with batons and fists — they used all the force they could muster.... Then she told me to straighten my legs. When I did, she beat me till my legs turned blue from the baton blows — about 10 blows on the left leg and 10 on the right. Then Chanchal Yadav asked, ‘So, do you still want to be a leader?’ I replied, ‘That’s fine, Ma’am, no problem. We’ll meet at the next protest.’”
Arjun Unnikrishnan, a lawyer who was detained on Sunday, called for “Nuremberg-style trials” for cops who held detainees at a spot behind the Life Insurance Corporation building at Connaught Place on Sunday.
He said: “There were Delhi Police commandos — three or four of them — standing in line to beat us up. I was called third or fourth. I stepped into the van and was punched in the face. I fell to the floor. They kicked me in the chest, in the back, and in my private parts. They throttled me. The first constable passed me to the second, the second passed me to the third, the third passedme to the fourth, and the fourth put me behind the cell bars inside.
“After me, there were four minors — aged 16 and 17 — who went through the same ordeal; they were not protesters, yet they underwent the same ordeal. They were pleading; they were begging the police officers to let them go. They weren’t even thereto protest; they just happened to be at CP (Connaught Place) at that time. They were Muslims. After that, an injured person — who was already injured, his hand was already fractured — was also beaten up in the same way.”
Rahul said: “It is the voice of Hindustan. You (home minister Amit Shah) are standing against this voice, and the Prime Minister is standing against this voice. I suggest that you do not stand against this voice.... I am telling every student to record videos, preserve the evidence, and send that evidence to us. Once this entire matter concludes, we will utilise all the evidence. And we will ensure punishment for everyone who deserves it.... Narendra Modi, Gyanesh Kumar, Amit Shah, and even the constable raising a hand against our children — just keep all the evidence safe.”
A protester named Samarth, who is out on bail after his arrest on October 5, said that after being beaten by cops in a jail van, one protester wanted to vomit and the officers asked him to puke into his own bag.
He said: “The police were saying, ‘We can’t sleep because of you people. Say that the Delhi Police is your father. Why don’t you stay at home? Because of you, we can’t sleep or eat properly. Our duty hours have doubled.’”
Samarth added that he had been living in fear until he met Rahul and was now ready to go and protest again.
Delhi Police is yet to respond to the testimonies of the protesters, although the force put out a video of the firstaid and food it offered to those detained.