Night of shame continues…..

 Given the law and order situation in the vicinity of the venue, there was no way the official function could have been held there. I knew something had to be done sooner rather than later to disperse the crowd and bring some semblance of order at India Gate.

Both Dharmendra and I were in the C4i (command, control, communications, computers and intelligence) centre of our PCR monitoring the proceedings, which were being streamed live by our own CCTV vans stationed at India Gate. Acts of arson and attacks on policemen were being flashed repeatedly on the screens. I told Dharmendra it was time to disperse the unlawful assembly.

‘If the officers at the spot are hesitant to do so, let both of us go to India Gate and do it,’ I shouted.

Dharmendra pacified me. He said, ‘Sir, we will get it done from here itself.’

Orders were given rather harshly to Taj Hassan, the joint commissioner heading the police deployed at the spot, to disperse the mob post-haste, and if necessary, use force.

The police resorted to lathi charge and the crowd dispersed in less than an hour after severe clashes with law enforcement. In this operation, many demonstrators and policemen were injured. Head Constable Subhash Tomar of east Delhi, deployed at India Gate, was beaten up mercilessly and died subsequently at Lady Hardinge Medical College Hospital.

Regrettably, the media showed no remorse or sympathy for the late head constable or his bereaved family. They tried to pass it off as a death caused on account of the head constable’s poor cardiac condition and not the injuries he had sustained at the protestors’ hands. Neither the media nor the citizens of Delhi were willing to show any sympathy, leave alone respect for a policeman who had died in the line of duty. For most of us, and particularly me, it was a painful and shattering experience.

 To be continued……