Human Rights Day Demonstration Turns Violent: Protestors Beaten, Student Missing

New Delhi - On 10th December, celebrated as Human Rights Day, the Campaign Against State Repression (CASR) organized a gathering at Jantar Mantar, to demand an end to the atrocities against marginalized communities. The demonstrators were forcefully prevented and harshly detained, ultimately validating the message behind the protest. The Mooknayak spoke to Badal from Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch, who explained the whole ordeal taking place at the respective stations.

Badal explained, “We organized a protest at Jantar Mantar against human rights violations, Dalit atrocities, rampant Islamophobia, and queerphobia by the state. Today, when we took out the protest, armed men without badges and CRPFs with loaded guns started brutally attacking and detaining us.” The comrade further revealed gruesome details of physical mistreatment that the protestors were put through.

They said, “We were hit with the back of the guns, resulting in injuries to multiple protestors. Transphobic slurs were hurled at individuals. There was a lack of female personnel, and the female protestors were beaten up by male personnel. Many female protestors were mistreated during that time, with their bodies being grabbed and kicked by the forces. We have entire videos of the forces deliberately hitting us at and around our private parts. We have been separated and detained at separate police stations, and they are not releasing us.”

One protestor is still detained, and no details have been revealed so far. They said, “One of our comrades, Gaurav Singh from Delhi School of Journalism and a member of Bhagat Singh Chhatra Ekta Manch, has been put illegally in custody. We have not been provided any details of his whereabouts for the last 4 hours. We tried calling his cell phone, but at first, someone cut the call then switched it off. Later, someone answered a call, claiming that they had found two phones on the street. This is a blatant lie because Gaurav’s phone was in his bag. We feel he is being brutally beaten up because the same has happened with us. One of our fellow members is bleeding, and most of us had to get bandaged. We are now filing a missing person report. Two days before, we had taken permission for the protest at Jantar Mantar, but one day before, the permission was dismissed.”

“We have been taken to Jaffarpur police station, and half of our members have been taken to Dwarka Sector 21 police station. The police are not letting us out right now. A few members are straightaway going to the police station, which comes under Parliament’s jurisdiction, to demand the release of Gaurav.” An SOS post doing the rounds on social media reads, “A student comrade of ours has been kidnapped by the Delhi police and BSF. He was in the same bus as me when we were being detained from Parliament Street, before the police men came and took him away while beating him very badly. We have been trying to call him for hours; at first, a woman police officer picked up the call and hung up. Then it was switched off. Just a minute ago, Gaurav's (a student of Delhi School of Journalism) phone was picked up suddenly, which was hitherto switched off, and a BSF officer from Parliament police station told us he only has the phone of Gaurav and he doesn't know where the student is. He says he found it in the bus he was in, but the bus was never taken to Parliament police station.”

The protest was organized by Campaign Against State Repression, which has been formulated with the help of organizations such as AISA, Bhim Army, BASF, Bahujan Samajwadi Manch, and many more. The demands of the protestors were to stop:

• Corporate loot of natural resources and forceful displacement of people.

• Brahmanical Hindutva fascist attack on religious minorities and oppressed castes.

• Fake encounters and custodial violence.

• Dehumanization of workers and repeal of 4 labor codes.

• Suppression of oppressed nationalities.

• Brahmanical patriarchal attack on women and LGBTQ+.

• The Hindutva corporate nexus attack on farmers.