'A half-filled drum of water measuring about 25 litres is all Rekha has left for her family of six living in a slum cluster near south Delhi’s Mahipalpur. For the past three days, she said, her son and nephew have been unsuccessful in reaching a nearby, privately owned borewell from where they get their daily supply, because of police heavy handedness. “There is not a drop of water left here,” said the 35-year-old, referring to the jhuggi jhopri cluster of about a 100 families that are involved in waste picking in Mahipalpur.
'In a case of media vigilantism, a reporter from news channel Republic TV was spotted live on March 24 standing by a team of policemen at the DND flyover which connects Delhi to Noida in Uttar Pradesh, heckling a doctor on his way to work for ‘violating the lockdown’. When the senior doctor, Anish Singhal, who is the director and medical superintendent of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital in Noida, showed the reporter his identity card, the reporter termed it ‘fake’. In fact, the channel ran a banner which said, “A man shows fake ID card and tries to venture out”.
'Shabana Ansari has five daughters to look after and no home to return to. After riots broke out in Northeast Delhi last month, the Eidgah relief camp in Old Mustafabad has doubled up as a home to her and 600 other riot victims. However, with the coronavirus outbreak, she and the other families are forced to look for a place to stay in 24 hours after authorities began clearing the camp. Shabana, who has no spare clothes, ration, medicines or even a spare blanket, said, “My house is a smouldering ruin. Now I have to look for a home as they cleared out the relief camp.
'“It was as if someone threw boiling hot water on me,” said the 23-year-old. He removed his shirt to reveal flesh-coloured scabs that stretched from the right side of his upper back to his right ear and down his right arm. He could not stop himself from scratching the wounds, which itched madly as they healed.
'Indians seeking clarity from the government on the causes, responses, and aftermath of the riots in north-east Delhi, in which 53 people died and over 500 injured, would have been confused by Home Minister Amit Shah’s explanations in the Lok Sabha on March 11. Mr Shah’s 50-minute speech can be best described as a model of mendacity. It apportioned the blame on everyone but his ministry and the Delhi police, which report to him. According to his version, the riots were pre-planned, financed, and mobilised externally (by implication the Muslim community) and the police were ...'
'Mohammed Wasil looks after Masjid Aqsa in the Chaman Park neighbourhood of North East Delhi. Until last fortnight, his duties involved paying the utility bills for the mosque, overseeing its upkeep and keeping it clean. But now another job has been added to that roster: creating fortifications to protect the place of worship from attack. Wasil matter-of-factly explained the geography of the area. “Just on that side of the road is Shiv Vihar,” he said. “All through the riots there were constant attacks from that side.
'The Delhi Assembly today passed a resolution against the NPR (national population register) and NRC (national register of citizens), with 61 of 70 MLAs responding in the negative when Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked if they still had their birth certificates...'
'A Times Now broadcast of March 5 ran a video of a man in red, wearing a helmet, opening fire during communal riots in Delhi. “New video of Delhi violence surfaces. Video reportedly from Maujpur…This is the 4th video of attack on police,” the channel claimed. The video was tweeted using #ShaheenLynchModel... A day later, the same clip was tweeted by BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya who insinuated that the shooter was a member of the Muslim community. He wrote, “Another video of a ‘peaceful’ protestor firing at the cops?
'...Scroll.in spoke to the families of many victims of the violence who allege the police have not only been passive, failing to pursue such cases independently, even after they submitted written complaints, the police have ignored them. In one case, the police did not file an FIR after a family reported a young man was missing. His body was later fished out of a drain, but the family claims no FIR has been filed yet.
'AAP councillor Tahir Hussain has been linked with the murder of IB staffer Ankit Sharma who was found dead in a drain close to Hussain’s house on February 26. Since then, the AAP leader has been suspended from the party and is now under police custody. The reportage around Tahir Hussain and communal riots in Delhi comprises several reports that weren’t journalistically sound.
