Not allowed to meet protesters held from Daryaganj, allege kin

Family members complain those responsible for Friday’s violence managed to flee

Families of those arrested in connection with violence during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in Seemapuri and Delhi Gate alleged that the police “randomly” arrested them and that those who indulged in violence managed to flee.

Munna Malik, a resident of Old Seemapuri and a property dealer, waited outside Seemapuri police station to meet his friend Aitamad Ahmed alias Haji Guddu.

“He is among the prominent people in our locality and on Friday, after the violence, he had come to the police station to help all those who had been detained from our area... but the police arrested him. He was not a part of any protest. Those who actually indulged in violence fled from there,” he said.

Families also said that the police did not allow them to enter the police station or meet the ones in custody.

A relative of Aitamad, who identified himself as Mohsin, said he and his family had come to the police station on Friday night and had been waiting to see him since Saturday morning but were not being allowed to do so. At the entrance, a barricade had been put up and an official refused entry to those who enquired about the detained.

The official said he had been told by senior officers to not let families inside.

Akram, brother of one Amjad who was in police custody, waited at the police station clueless.

He also complained that he wasn’t allowed to meet his brother and was waiting for police to take him to court so he could see him.

Mr. Akram said that Amjad, resident of Shaheed Park, works as a chicken supplier and was returning from Ghazaipur mandi when he is suspected to have been picked up by the police.

“He usually reaches home by 5 p.m., but when he didn’t, we started looking for him. His phone had been switched off. As violence was under way, we went to the police post and then came to the police station as well but there was no news of him. Meanwhile, a local told me that the police had arrested him. I saw him in the morning when the police had taken him for medical examination. He has a head injury and was walking with a limp,” the brother said.