Being a cop is a thankless job, Union Minister of State Kiren Rijiju said in a tweet that he later deleted, as policemen took out an unprecedented protest in Delhi after clashes with lawyers at a court on Saturday. Thousands of Delhi policemen surrounded the Police Headquarters in the protest, blocking traffic on a busy road in the capital.
"Being a cop is a thankless job. But they don't do it for thanks. Police officers put their lives on the line every day. They are damned if they do, and damned even if they don't. What gets lost in all the anti-police rhetoric is the family left at home while a policeman serves," Kiren Rijiju, the Minister of State for Youth and Sports Affairs, wrote in the now-deleted tweet.
He clarified, "It's not question of supporting any group. Just let's not take law into our hands."
A parking row between policemen and lawyers escalated on Saturday leading to violence and arson at the Tis Hazari Court complex.
At least 28 policemen and several lawyers were injured and many vehicles were damaged in the incident. The lawyers alleged that the police fired at them.
On Monday, a policeman was heckled and assaulted by a group of lawyers outside a district court complex in Delhi's Saket neighbourhood. In a video taken by a bystander, a policeman, sitting on a motorcycle, is surrounded by six lawyers. The cop is attacked by a lawyer who rams his elbow into the policeman's back twice before slapping him twice. The cop manages to turn his bike around and is trying to drive away when the same lawyer throws a helmet that hits the motorcycle.
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