‘Rioters Came in Thousands, Policemen Were Just 200’

ACP Anuj Kumar, who was injured while trying to curb the violent clashes in Northeast Delhi, recounts the communal riots that cost 42 lives

On February 25, I had arrived at the troubled spot along with District Commissioner of Police Amit Sharma and about 200 police personnel when the tension began to raise its ugly head near Seelampur area in Northeast Delhi.

We were instructed that the road linking Signature Bridge with the border of Ghaziabad should not remain blocked. Slowly and steadily, a crowd started getting bigger. The crowd included both men and women. Soon the crowd swelled to about 20,000-25,000 headcount. I don’t know whether they had planned to block the road as they did previously.

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We spoke to them peacefully and asked them to remain confined to the service road instead of the main road. Till then, rumours had started spreading that some women and children had lost their lives in a police shootout. There was construction underway near the bridge, so stones and bricks were lying there. The rioters started pelting us with stones suddenly and many of us were injured, including DCP Amit Sharma who was bleeding severely.

The police fired teargas shells to disperse the rioters but the effort was futile as the distance between the protestors and the security was large. We were standing on two opposite ends of the road. We didn’t want to open fire as many women took part in the protest. But we were heavily outnumbered.

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My aim then was to first rescue the DCP because he was bleeding heavily. But we also didn’t want to hurt any protestor. I later came to know that the force have lost Head Constable Rattan Lal to the violence.