Home Minister Amit Shah said the government will not tolerate any such incident.
Highlights
- Home Minister said this hours after UP teenager shot at Jamia protester
- Amit Shah said central government "will not tolerate" such incidents
- Arvind Kejriwal seemed unconvinced, asked "what's happening in Delhi"
Hours after an armed individual shot at students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah today tweeted out an assurance that the "culprit will not be spared".
"I have spoken to the Delhi Police Commissioner on the firing incident that has taken place in Delhi and instructed him to take stringent action against the culprits. The centre will not tolerate any such incident. The matter has been taken seriously, and the culprit will not be spared," he tweeted in Hindi.
However, the Home Minister's assurance did not seem have convinced Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. "What's happening in Delhi? The law-and-situation in Delhi is deteriorating. Please take care of Delhi's law and order," he tweeted. The police force in the national capital is controlled by the centre.
The person -- who identifies himself as a right-wing activist on Facebook -- had turned up at the protest venue near the Jamia Millia Islamia University with a gun this afternoon. Waving a pistol threateningly at the protesters, he walked down the road shouting "Yeh lo azaadi (here's your freedom)" even as police watched warily from the distance. When protesters at the venue tried to disarm him, he shot a student -- Shadaab Farukh -- in the arm.
Chaos broke out, forcing police to barricade the area and divert traffic to other routes.
The attacker, who also raised slogans of "Delhi Police zindabad", had gone live on Facebook minutes before he pulled out his gun. Videos on his Facebook timeline showed him walking around in the crowded road -- the venue of the protest -- with a red backpack on.
His previous posts on his Facebook page, which has since been taken down, seemed to indicate that he had come prepared for the consequences of his action. "On my last journey, drape me in saffron and shout slogans of Jai Shri Ram," one of them said. Another more threatening post read, "Shaheen Bagh, Game Over", referring to a massive protest against the citizenship law taken up by women and children in the neighbourhood.
The entire incident had unfolded despite a huge contingent of armed policemen, in riot gear, standing just metres away from the man. The attacker, who has now been identified as a juvenile, is a resident of Jewar in Uttar Pradesh.
Over a thousand students are now protesting in the area and have removed barricades placed by the police, to prevent them from taking out a march to Rajghat. The policemen, who have water cannons on standby, are trying to push back the students. They have called in reinforcements too.