Two days after the Jamia shooting, a man opened fire near the protest site of Shaheen Bagh in Delhi. The gunman, reportedly identified as Kapil, a resident of east Delhi, opened fire at the Sarita Vihar end of the area cordoned off at Shaheen Bagh. As soon as he opened fire, Delhi police officials present at the spot immediately apprehended him. Nobody was injured in the firing.
Delhi: The man, who had fired bullets in Shaheen Bagh area, has been taken by police into their custody. More details awaited. https://t.co/MmCwK1l58m pic.twitter.com/cDmaDrIXa6
— ANI (@ANI) February 1, 2020
As he was being taken away by the police, he allegedly said, “Humare desh mein kisi ki nahi chalegi, sirf Hinduon ki chalegi (roughly translates to: This country will function the way Hindus want, not anybody else.)
Reports state that three bullets were fired in the air. The incident took place just 50 to 60 meters from where the sit-in protests are happening. The incident took place close to police barricades which had been set up.
This comes two days after a minor opened fire near Jamia Millia Islamia University where protesters were carrying out an anti-CAA march to Raj Ghat. One student was injured in the incident. The minor had shouted, “Yeh lo azaadi!” when he opened fire. He was immediately taken into custody. It later came to light that the teenager had gone live on Facebook from the protest venue. He has now been booked for attempt to murder.
Shaheen Bagh in southeast Delhi has become the epicentre of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and protesters have been staging a sit-in for the past 40 days. On Saturday, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the government is ready to talk to the protesters at Shaheen Bagh to clear their doubts over the amended Citizenship law, but it should be in a "structured form". Protestors have been sitting in since December 15.
This is the second incident of firing since Minister of State in the Finance Ministry Anurag Thakur delivered an incendiary speech in New Delhi, raising slogans of “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko (Shoot the traitors of this country).”