When the bullet from a .9 mm handgun sped through Ajit’s s stomach, yawed, and exited from his rib cage to finally rest in his arm, the teenager was still running. He could feel his side turning numb, but he wanted to get indoors before more bullets found him. He’d just seen a puncture wound appear on the face of his best friend Arjun, and Ajit started running almost the exact second that he saw Arjun collapse. “I had a drink of water at the neighbour’s house, and the blood began to pool at my feet,” Ajit recalled. “I saw that and fainted.”
While roughly 80% of all gunshot patients survive their injuries, 16-year-old Ajit is the only one of the boys shot in Trilokpuri who has made it back from the hospital thus far. Arjun, who went into a coma shortly after the bullet that hit his cheekbone exited his skull, is conscious, but silent. The steady stream of press-card carrying visitors to Ajit’s bedside have left him exhausted and worried. Nothing will change his testimony.
On October 23, the morning after Diwali, he saw a policeman fire bullets at him and Arjun, two teenagers on their way back to Block 28, from a tuition centre in Trilokpuri. While several senior police officials have visited the boys at the hospital and at home, and offered to personally look after their families, no actual financial help has been forthcoming from the police thus far. All of Ajit’s medical bills are being covered by a collection fund set up by his neighbours, a clutch of Tamil drivers, cleaners and cooks, and their employers.
As the violence in Trilokpuri escalated on October 25 after rumours that miscreants had defiled a makeshift shrine, initial reports suggested that the shots had been fired by members of the mob, not the police, which had only applied “mild force” to control rioters. On Tuesday, October 28, The Times of India reported that the police was had obtained CCTV and mobile footage showing "men with skull caps" firing arms. The victims of the shooting, the report went on to state , were all Hindu boys.
Acting in self defence
A few days later, Deepak Mishra, Special Commissioner for Police (Law and order) issued a statement saying that the police may have fired some bullets, but they were only acting in self defence "Bullets were fired from both sides,” he said. “The police had no recourse. When somebody is coming at you with a wicked-looking cleaver, there is no other option but to pull out your gun and use it.”
Ajit’s story is important because the injuries of both boys show that the two unarmed boys were shot at close range, by guns most frequently carried by inspectors and head constables of the Delhi Police. Not only does this undermine the narrative that Muslim men had shot Hindu boys, it indicates that the police was using far more than just mild force in Trilokpuri. The National Commission for Minorities, on an independent investigative visit to the area, also noted allegations that police action was communally biased – more than half the young men picked up were Muslim, and most of them are still in custody.
While everyone from the riot-affected to the press makes references to Trilokpuri’s communal past, it is important to remember that the violence against Sikhs in 1984 reached the terrifying proportions it did only when it was abetted by the police.
Policing challenges
As tensions ran high on the eve of the Vishal Bhagwati Jagran on October 30, it was easy to see the logistical challenge of policing a neighbourhood like Trilokpuri – a tight maze of narrow bylanes and adjoining terraces. Aided by drones, the police had apparently seized over 70 sacks of bricks and glass bottles from various homes already. To prevent further mischief, as volunteers for the jagran lined up to collect their badges, individual policemen were stationed in every single home of the lanes closest to the chowki – the makeshift place of worship – where the ceremony was to be held. A group of senior officers and members of the Rapid Action Force were assembled at the entry and exit of every block, with one patrolling officer in every by lane.
A newly erected stage draped with pink, cream and yellow chiffon displayed idols of every major god from the Hindu pantheon. Sangeeta Singh, one of the female volunteers at the jagran confessed that she was unhappy with the stressful conditions under which the ceremony was taking place. “The police won’t stay here forever,” she shouted above the speakers, “who will take care of us then?” However Balraj Kumar, a BJP party worker who had just changed into a fresh orange kurta as the jagran began, had no such misgivings. “I sent a fax to Modi ji’s office just today,” he beamed, “aisa jagran poore India mein nahi dekha hoga kissi ne.” I’m sure there have been no jagrans like this anywhere in the country.
The missing pigeons
Black and white, flecked with grey, Farmaan’s pigeons stare at the men in uniform assembled below their terrace. On Saturday, six of his birds went missing during the stone pelting, and Farmaan later saw one of them being eaten by a cat, quite close to the shop that was burnt down. “I don’t think they’ll return,” said the 17-year-old with a trace of regret, quite aware that the neighbourhood had greater losses to report. From his vantage point, a free-standing, narrow building in which he lives with his family, Farmaan had witnessed the unruly mobs downstairs attacking each other with bricks, bottles, and whatever else they could lay their hands on. He distinctly remembers shops in the area being raided – in particular, the kabaadiwaala’s store, which he says, is probably where all the glass bottles came from.
When A to Z Collections, the three-storey shop right in front of his house was set on fire, it took the police two hours to finally appear with the fire department. “By then there was nothing left to save,” he said, “I didn’t see who did it, but I know it started on the first floor.”
As we watched the videos of stone-pelting that are being passed around on Whatsapp, I asked him if he could identify any of them men throwing bricks towards the lane we were currently sitting in. Farmaan, who has worked at his chacha’s store, King’s Fashion for the last five years said he did not recognise any of the men from the video, and was certain that most of them were not even from Trilokpuri. There had been small communal flare-ups before, he said, but he’d never seen this many men in the gallis together, “not even during the Diwali season sale”.
In particular, a fuzzy video of an old Muslim man caused him some consternation. In the initial seconds of the clip, the bearded gent stretches his hand out, almost as if he is taking aim. Immediately after, when he brings his hand close to his face – the optic illusion is dispelled. The man is shooting with a phone camera, but as Farmaan and I both know – a frozen still of the skull-cap wearing man “holding a firearm” has been doing the rounds online, fuelling and justifying Hindutva rage. While every political party that is set to contest elections in Delhi plays a game of blame roulette, hate-mongers are busy editing and sharing video clips to buttress their lies.
In an attempt to demonstrate that there is no reason for anxiety, the Muslim community of Trilokpuri has decided that this year's Muharram observances will not include a procession with weapons, as it traditionally has. Participants will discuss religious teachings and legal rights with residents instead.
A police drone buzzes through Trilokpuri. Photo: Ishan Tankha
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While roughly 80% of all gunshot patients survive their injuries, 16-year-old Ajit is the only one of the boys shot in Trilokpuri who has made it back from the hospital thus far. Arjun, who went into a coma shortly after the bullet that hit his cheekbone exited his skull, is conscious, but silent. The steady stream of press-card carrying visitors to Ajit’s bedside have left him exhausted and worried. Nothing will change his testimony.
On October 23, the morning after Diwali, he saw a policeman fire bullets at him and Arjun, two teenagers on their way back to Block 28, from a tuition centre in Trilokpuri. While several senior police officials have visited the boys at the hospital and at home, and offered to personally look after their families, no actual financial help has been forthcoming from the police thus far. All of Ajit’s medical bills are being covered by a collection fund set up by his neighbours, a clutch of Tamil drivers, cleaners and cooks, and their employers.
As the violence in Trilokpuri escalated on October 25 after rumours that miscreants had defiled a makeshift shrine, initial reports suggested that the shots had been fired by members of the mob, not the police, which had only applied “mild force” to control rioters. On Tuesday, October 28, The Times of India reported that the police was had obtained CCTV and mobile footage showing "men with skull caps" firing arms. The victims of the shooting, the report went on to state , were all Hindu boys.
Acting in self defence
A few days later, Deepak Mishra, Special Commissioner for Police (Law and order) issued a statement saying that the police may have fired some bullets, but they were only acting in self defence "Bullets were fired from both sides,” he said. “The police had no recourse. When somebody is coming at you with a wicked-looking cleaver, there is no other option but to pull out your gun and use it.”
Ajit’s story is important because the injuries of both boys show that the two unarmed boys were shot at close range, by guns most frequently carried by inspectors and head constables of the Delhi Police. Not only does this undermine the narrative that Muslim men had shot Hindu boys, it indicates that the police was using far more than just mild force in Trilokpuri. The National Commission for Minorities, on an independent investigative visit to the area, also noted allegations that police action was communally biased – more than half the young men picked up were Muslim, and most of them are still in custody.
While everyone from the riot-affected to the press makes references to Trilokpuri’s communal past, it is important to remember that the violence against Sikhs in 1984 reached the terrifying proportions it did only when it was abetted by the police.
Policing challenges
Photo: Ishan Tankha
As tensions ran high on the eve of the Vishal Bhagwati Jagran on October 30, it was easy to see the logistical challenge of policing a neighbourhood like Trilokpuri – a tight maze of narrow bylanes and adjoining terraces. Aided by drones, the police had apparently seized over 70 sacks of bricks and glass bottles from various homes already. To prevent further mischief, as volunteers for the jagran lined up to collect their badges, individual policemen were stationed in every single home of the lanes closest to the chowki – the makeshift place of worship – where the ceremony was to be held. A group of senior officers and members of the Rapid Action Force were assembled at the entry and exit of every block, with one patrolling officer in every by lane.
A newly erected stage draped with pink, cream and yellow chiffon displayed idols of every major god from the Hindu pantheon. Sangeeta Singh, one of the female volunteers at the jagran confessed that she was unhappy with the stressful conditions under which the ceremony was taking place. “The police won’t stay here forever,” she shouted above the speakers, “who will take care of us then?” However Balraj Kumar, a BJP party worker who had just changed into a fresh orange kurta as the jagran began, had no such misgivings. “I sent a fax to Modi ji’s office just today,” he beamed, “aisa jagran poore India mein nahi dekha hoga kissi ne.” I’m sure there have been no jagrans like this anywhere in the country.
The missing pigeons
Photo: Ishan Tankha
Black and white, flecked with grey, Farmaan’s pigeons stare at the men in uniform assembled below their terrace. On Saturday, six of his birds went missing during the stone pelting, and Farmaan later saw one of them being eaten by a cat, quite close to the shop that was burnt down. “I don’t think they’ll return,” said the 17-year-old with a trace of regret, quite aware that the neighbourhood had greater losses to report. From his vantage point, a free-standing, narrow building in which he lives with his family, Farmaan had witnessed the unruly mobs downstairs attacking each other with bricks, bottles, and whatever else they could lay their hands on. He distinctly remembers shops in the area being raided – in particular, the kabaadiwaala’s store, which he says, is probably where all the glass bottles came from.
When A to Z Collections, the three-storey shop right in front of his house was set on fire, it took the police two hours to finally appear with the fire department. “By then there was nothing left to save,” he said, “I didn’t see who did it, but I know it started on the first floor.”
As we watched the videos of stone-pelting that are being passed around on Whatsapp, I asked him if he could identify any of them men throwing bricks towards the lane we were currently sitting in. Farmaan, who has worked at his chacha’s store, King’s Fashion for the last five years said he did not recognise any of the men from the video, and was certain that most of them were not even from Trilokpuri. There had been small communal flare-ups before, he said, but he’d never seen this many men in the gallis together, “not even during the Diwali season sale”.
In particular, a fuzzy video of an old Muslim man caused him some consternation. In the initial seconds of the clip, the bearded gent stretches his hand out, almost as if he is taking aim. Immediately after, when he brings his hand close to his face – the optic illusion is dispelled. The man is shooting with a phone camera, but as Farmaan and I both know – a frozen still of the skull-cap wearing man “holding a firearm” has been doing the rounds online, fuelling and justifying Hindutva rage. While every political party that is set to contest elections in Delhi plays a game of blame roulette, hate-mongers are busy editing and sharing video clips to buttress their lies.
In an attempt to demonstrate that there is no reason for anxiety, the Muslim community of Trilokpuri has decided that this year's Muharram observances will not include a procession with weapons, as it traditionally has. Participants will discuss religious teachings and legal rights with residents instead.
A police drone buzzes through Trilokpuri. Photo: Ishan Tankha