By Aranya Shankar, Jignasa Sinha & Somya Lakhani

As over 20 police personnel, including an SHO, watched, a youth opened fire at a protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act near Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi on Thursday, leaving one student injured. Later identified by police as a juvenile, the 17-year-old brandished a gun at the protest site around 1.45 pm, and shouted slogans of “Ye lo azadi (Here, take azadi)”, “Desh mein jo rehna hoga, Vande Mataram kehna hoga (If you want to stay in the country, you have to say Vande Mataram)” and “Dilli Police zindabad”, before he fired. As he was being taken away by police, he shouted out, “Ram bhakt”.

The injured student, identified as Shadab Farooq, is from Jammu & Kashmir, and a first-year student of mass communication at Jamia. He was part of the ‘long march’ against the CAA planned by Jamia students from the university to Rajghat on Thursday, to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. Farooq sustained a bullet wound in his left forearm, and is admitted in AIIMS for surgery.

The gunman had posted about his intentions on Facebook, and kept putting up videos till the end. In one post, he said that if anything were to happen to him, his body should be “wrapped in saffron”. The gunman, who was eventually overpowered by a single policeman, was taken to New Friends Colony Police Station for questioning, and the case was transferred to the Crime Branch in the evening. A case under IPC Section 307 (attempt to murder) and the Arms Act has been filed against him.

Jamia Chief Proctor Waseem Ahmad Khan laid the blame squarely on provocative poll speeches by BJP leaders Anurag Thakur and Kapil Mishra. “The students were trying to march to Rajghat, but we were trying to stop them… It was a peaceful protest, why did the man fire? This incident took place because of the inflammatory speeches by Anurag Thakur and Kapil Mishra the other day. They instigated people through their speeches. We are suffering. The police and government should act against them,” Khan said.

Questions were raised about the police failure to prevent the incident, though around two dozen personnel were standing around 30 metres from the gunman. Special CP Crime Praveer Ranjan claimed, “By the time police could react, the person had already fired. Everything happened in a split second. Investigation is on.”

An ACP-rank, SHO-rank and additional SHO-rank officers as well as a constable present at the spot claimed the same. Additional SHO (Jamia Nagar) Khalid Hussain said he was walking near the students when the gunman fired. “The man appeared suddenly and shot… I was the first person to hold Shadab.”

SHO Jamia Nagar Upender Singh said, “The accused had his back towards us and we couldn’t see the gun. As soon as he fired the gun, we acted swiftly and caught him.” An ACP-rank officer said, “We couldn’t see anything as the accused’s back was towards us and there was a lot of distance between where police were and where the accused was. We acted as fast as we could.”

Additional DCP (Southeast) Kumar Gyanesh repeated the same, adding that “police personnel were stationed at various points near Jamia. The accused emerged from the crowd. “It all happened so quickly and we acted swiftly.” A senior police personnel said “it was a reporter’s scream for help followed by the sound of the gunshot that made clear what had happened”.

On Monday, Thakur, Minister of State, Finance, addressing a rally for the February 8 Delhi Assembly elections, repeatedly chanted “Desh ke gaddaron ko”, urging the crowd to respond with “goli maaro saalon ko”. The next day, BJP MP Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma said protesters at Shaheen Bagh could “enter homes and rape our sisters and daughters”. On Thursday, both were banned from campaigning for 72 hours.

Last month, the slogan to target “traitors” had been raised by Mishra, a BJP candidate, at a pro-CAA march in Connaught Place. During his poll speeches, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has continuously attacked Shaheen Bagh protesters and on Thursday, called the election as between “those who stand with the nation” and “those with Shaheen Bagh”. He also tweeted about the firing incident, saying, “I have spoken to the Delhi Police commissioner about the shooting incident and told him to take strictest action. The Centre will not tolerate such an incident and it will be investigated in all seriousness. The culprit will not be spared.”

Both the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress linked the gunman’s actions to the rallies and press conferences by BJP leaders. The incident happened as a march of about 300 students was heading towards Rajghat. As police had put up barricades, a few of them went forward to talk to the officers, with Farooq among them.

“Suddenly, out of nowhere, this guy came waving his country-made pistol and started giving slogans such as ‘Delhi Police zindabad’ and ‘Hindustan zindabad’. He said ‘Aao main tumhe aazadi dilaun’ and started walking towards the students. He then fired at Shadab,” said Aamir Jahid, a Jamia alumnus who was present.

Midhat Samra, an economics student, who is seen in videos later holding Farooq’s injured hand, said, “Nobody knows where he came from. While he was shouting with his pistol pointed towards the sky, Shadab tried to calm him down. He continuously said ‘Bhai ruk jao, aaram se. Bandook neeche kar lo (Wait, take it easy, keep the gun down)’. We asked police for help, but they didn’t stop him. Then he fired. Even after that, when we were going to Holy Family Hospital, police didn’t move the barricades for Shadab. He had to climb on top of them.”

The area outside the university remained tense till late in the evening, with protesters trying to breach barricades and police using “mild force” to disperse them.