On brutal repression and arresting of student protesters by Delhi Police
We hereby share a report that we received per e-mail.
On November 23rd, a group of more than 50 students and environmental activists, gathered in front of the India Gate to protest the rising AQI levels, and the development model promoted by the Indian state that is leading to unbearable air pollution in New Delhi. The AQI in Delhi has hit 388, which is hazardous, considering that for the past month, the Brahminical Hindutva fascist state has been trying to skew with the AQI monitors, it can be well above this. Breathing in the toxic air is like equivalent to breathing in 50 cigarettes a day, the Yamuna has been polluted and has started looking more like a sewage, with toxic foam spreading across its surface. The people of Delhi have been protesting against this dire situation, a situation in which the air that their children breathe in has itself become poisonous, for the past one month. Hundreds came to the street earlier this month. To breathe healthy air has become the privilege of the ruling classes.
Protestors from across different organisations, gathered in front of the India Gate against this crisis which has been constructed by the ruling class and their imperialist model of development. Here, the protestors raised slogans in support of Comrade Madvi Hidma. A true leader of the Indian people, who has been fighting for the Jal, Jangal and Jameen of not just the Adivasi’s of Bastar but all the Indian people. He was fighting for an alternative model of development which was people centric and sustainable. One just needs to look at agriculture in Bastar, to understand the same, while the ruling class of the country were poisoning our lands with pesticides and fertilisers that have contributed to cancer trains running across states like Punjab, the comrades of Bastar, ensured a people centric model of development. Seeds that were to be extinct were preserved by the Janatana Sarkar in Bastar. At the same time, Comrade Hidma, and his other comrades from the PLGA, the revolutionary party, and the Janatana Sarkar, also fought against the attempts of the big corporates and the ruling class to poison this land. Thus, Hidma was a true leader of the people who was also a radical environmentalist. It is but natural that the students and activists who were protesting would raise slogans and show posters in support of him, and, it is in fact their constitutional right.
The peacefully protesting students and activists were attacked by the police for rasing slogans in support of Hidma. One of the photos from the site is reminiscent of the image of George Floyd, the African American man, who was racially profiled and killed by white supremacist police in USA. The media, has tagged them as ‘Urban Naxals’ and ‘Anti-Nationals’ for raising slogans against the murder of the true patriot Hidma. The Delhi Police and these Godi media houses also claim that police officers were attacked by the protestors using pepper spray. They have been arrested for the same and have been produced in court where several of the activists including a minor were denied bail and kept in judicial custody. The veracity of the claim that the protestors used pepper spray is still under question, but even if they did use it one can only see it as justified resistance. For the past one year, there has been continous harassment of these students by the Delhi police. Initially, they were abducted by the Special Cell of the Delhi police, that tortured them and sexually harassed the students for multiple days before releasing them. Similarly, while campaigning, they were again sexually harassed by the police. In fact, in the last one month, whenever a protest over AQI has happened, the women comrades who are in the protest site complain about sexual harassment. The police officers grab the breasts of the women and touch their other private parts. They similarly torture the male comrades by kicking them in the groin. Unsurprisingly, even after the students raised the issue of their abduction, the custodial torture or the sexual harassment by the Delhi police, there was no uproar from the Godi media. The Godi media now wants these students arrested under UAPA. What do you expect an individual to do when they are contantly tortured and harassed like this? As was mentioned earlier, the veracity of the claim made by the Delhi Police, that the students used pepper spray, still has to be proven, but even if they did, it is because of the complete breakdown of all constitutional rights in Delhi, leading to the students having to defend themselves against the brutality of the police.
The comrades were arrested and taken away by the Delhi police and has been tortured by the Delhi police for the past two days. Somehow, one of the arrested comrade, Gurkirat, was able to call another comrade, and she informed that she is being harassed in every possible manner by the Delhi Police. One has no other option but to fear the worse, since the same comrade was abducted a few months ago and was threatened with electric shocks. A fellow comrade was electrocuted brutally then. The Delhi Police was so insensitive to the pain that they sang Bollywood songs then. The Delhi Police has become an Urban Salwa Judum. Unsurprisingly, the Godi media doesnt report on this, but is busy trying to find out the Naxal links of these youth. The ruling class and the Godi media claim that Naxalism is getting curbed and is restricted to a few villages in Bastar, then how are ‘Naxals’ making their appearance in the center of the capital city? We request all progressive and democratic forces to demand the release of these protesting students, and also demand a stop to this torture by the Delhi police.
