JCC called for a Gandhi March from Jamia Millia Islamia to Rajghat on 30th January. Around 1:00 – 1:15, I was about to join the protest, waiting for the crowd to march forward when I saw a random person holding a pistol in his hands walking towards holy family. I saw some of my friends standing there, I immediately ran towards him to calm him down. People were asking the police to stop him. They were continuously shouting that he’s holding a pistol but the police didn’t listen. Instead, they kept on recording videos. I kept saying “put the gun down”, I said it twice, he shot me on my left forearm when I said it for the third time.
Delhi police alone is not to be blamed. Jamia administration and VC too should be blamed for what happened yesterday. Had they taken action against the police brutality in the earlier events, this might not have been happened. Not only Jamia or JNU but every university run by the people who are in power at the centre, it’s the responsibility of the administration to take care of its students and be accountable and answerable to them.
Besides, what I feel happened yesterday can also be termed as “a result of hyper nationalism”. If you want to make it a protest, make it one. Raise black flags, raise red flags.
Apart from that, what I did yesterday wasn’t an act of heroism, I did what I felt was right and you too should stand for what is right. I am calling for an action because I am hurt. If the administration still doesn’t take an action on it and if it fails to reach out to its students, then tomorrow there will be another Shadab standing infront of a bullet while the police keep their hands in their pockets and record videos rather than take actions.
And I’ll be back to college real soon.
The fight is long, but we will fight. We will win.
Shadab Farooq, a student of Jamia Millia Islamia who received bullet injuries on the hand in Jamia firing.
