Attack on Umar Khalid in Delhi’s VIP Zone: An eyewitness account

The sheer irony of it all ought to alarm, if not scare, all of us. Just minutes before he was about to speak at a gathering in a programme titled “Khauf se azaadi” (freedom from fear), well-known dissident Umar Khalid narrowly escaped a bid on his life, outside Delhi’s Constitution Club, a venue of free expression located bang in the middle of a high-security zone.

Delhi Police has tried its level best to downplay the incident and shift some of the blame on to the organisers of the programme, a civil society coalition going by the name of ‘United Against Hate’, but it has only set off more tongues wagging, expressing fear.

According to eyewitness testimonies and a video recorded by Anees Ahmed Ansari, one of Khalid’s long-time well wishers and who had travelled all the way from Aligarh to hear him speak, Khalid and a few of his friends were having tea at the kiosk just outside the Constitution Club at around 2.15 pm. Ansari was in the process of taking a selfie with Khalid, when all of a sudden, a stockily-built man pounced upon the young and spirited JNU scholar. Khalid spotted a firearm in the assailant’s hand, and tried his best to dissuade him. In the scuffle which ensued, Khalid suffered bruises and scratches all over his body, while the attacker ran away when he found that a crowd was gathering at the spot.

However, the attacker fired a shot in the air while fleeing, and left the pistol (which appears to be a sophisticated weapon and not a country-made one) at the spot. Ansari rushed to Khalid, who by now was drenched in sweat and had all colour drained from his face, and ran his hands all over his body to find out if any bullet had indeed hit him, but found nothing.

A posse of policemen arrived at the spot immediately after hearing the pandemonium caused by Khalid and his friends, some of whom, along with some onlookers, had given chase after the assailant. They whisked Khalid away to a local hospital for a medical examination, and according to sources, are also mulling lodging an FIR under appropriate sections of law at the Parliament Street Police Station, under the jurisdiction of which the Constitution Club, situated at Rafi Marg, falls.

Shadab Ansari, a criminal lawyer who is appearing in the recent Jharkhand lynching incidents and who was slated as a speaker at the event, told National Herald that after the programme got over, he and his fellow comrades would go to the Parliament Street police station to assist Khalid in pursuing the proper legal procedure, and also to protest against the police’s actions. Ansari said that immediately after the police force arrived, they cordoned off the area and shut out the media and the organisers from accessing the Club. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, an outspoken detractor of Khalid who was present at the premises, almost took over the situation and started issuing instructions to the cops, while shouting down Khalid’s mates, Ansari alleged.

Madhur Verma, DCP, Delhi area, admitted to media persons that indeed there had been an attack on Khalid, and said that the police has already made some sketches of the assailant based on eyewitness statements, and had informed all police stations and PCR vans to be on the lookout for him. But he also said that the organisers should have informed the police beforehand and sought permission since an event on such a “highly-sensitive and high-tension issue” was being organised. As per established protocol and norms, there is no legal requirement to either inform the police or seek their prior permission  before organising any event at the Constitution Club.

This is not the first time Khalid has faced a threat to his life—as early as February 2016 when he shot to fame for his JNU speech (for which the government had slapped sedition charges on him), he has been facing a torrent of vile abuse and threats. Only recently, Khalid complained to the police that dreaded gangster Ravi Pujari had called and issued death threats to him.

As of now, the Delhi Police is trying to fob off critics with diplomatic silence, and sometimes quixotic answers, but it surely cannot wish away the explanations it owes for such an attack taking place rights under its nose. It also needs to ensure Khalid’s, as well as others’ continued safety.

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