After flip-flop, police admit to opening fire in ‘self-defence’ during anti-CAA protest in Bijnor

In a first such instance of UP police accepting that they had opened fire during the recent violent protests in the state, Bijnor superintendent of police (SP) Sanjeev Tyagi admitted that one of the persons killed during an anti- Citizenship (Amendment) Act agitation was hit by a bullet fired by a cop in self-defence.

Earlier, director general of police (DGP) OP Singh had said that the police did not fire any gunshots.

However, Tyagi said that senior police officials had now been updated about facts related to districts.

In a video statement, reportedly recorded on December 21— a day after the violent protest — and which went viral on the social media on Tuesday, Tyagi said that one of the protesters, Mohammad Suleiman, 20, was hit by a bullet fired by a police personnel in self-defence. He also said that the other youth killed in the protest, Anas, had died after being hit by a bullet fired by the protesters.

Soon after the video went viral, Tyagi said, “I have not issued any such statement. My remarks were twisted in media reports.” However, when he was contacted again later, he said, “The gunshots were fired only in self-defence. Some of the protesters attacked, cops opened fire.”

According to superintendent of police (rural) Vishwajeet Srivastava, on December 20, after Friday prayers, a mob attacked a police station in Nehtaur area and snatched the pistol of sub-inspector Ashish Tomar. “When the constable opened fire in self-defence, it hit ‘upadravi’ (troublemaker) Suleiman and he died,” said Srivastava.

According to the police, the protesters pelted stones on the cops. They said that some of the protesters also fired gunshots.

Tyagi said that the police used minimum force against the troublemakers. “But they put children in the front and resorted to sloganeering, stone-pelting and arson,” he said.

He said the constable who fired the shot, Mohit Kumar, was also hit by a bullet fired from a country-made weapon and was still in the hospital. “The bullet that hit Suleiman was fired by Mohit from his service pistol. This has been proven by the ballistic report,” said Tyagi.

He added that the protesters also snatched a service pistol of another policeman and the weapon was still missing.

KIN REFUTE POLICE CLAIMS

Deceased Suleiman’s family, however, denied the police claims.

His father Zahir Hussain said, “Suleiman was not a part of the protest. He had gone out to offer namaz. Around 2pm, the police picked him up along with some other persons.”

He said that the family recovered his bullet-hit body from a street near the madarsa. “Suleiman had a bullet injury on his chest,” said Hussain.

The family, he said, was ready to contest the police claims in the court.

“Earlier, they (police) said that Suleiman was killed by a bullet fired by the protesters. Now, they admit that the bullet was fired by a cop. There is something fishy in this case and we want justice,” said Hussain.

Suleiman’s kin Shoaib Malik claimed that the police “harassed” the family even later. “We were not allowed to conduct Suleiman’s burial as per our wishes. We had to take his body to his maternal uncle’s place -- around 20km from our village,” he said.

The victim’s sister Sana said that he used to live in Noida with his maternal uncle. “Suleiman was preparing for the UPSC (civil services) examinations. He had his daily schedule fixed and used to follow it strictly,” she said adding that he had come to Bijnor as he was down with fever.