Farmers don't hurt anyone, men inside were not farmers, say cops who faced violence
New Delhi: "They kept at the violence inside Red Fort at least for an hour... they kept beating us up," said Constable Sandeep, nursing his wounds. Currently posted as the operator to the Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), Sandeep was one of the hundreds of policemen and policewomen who were brutally beaten up by the protesters part of the farmers' tractor rally on Tuesday when they had breached the gates of Red Fort. Millennium Post on Wednesday spoke to the men and women who were posted inside the Mughal-era fortress about what they saw and why they were unable to stop the crowds from entering the campus. The cops said they were directed to show restraint and were standing by for the longest time thinking "they were just farmers and simple people".
"I also come from a farmer family. I have only seen farmers put in hard work for the welfare of the country and people. They don't hurt anyone," Sandeep said, adding that the mob inside the fort continuously beat up police personnel with swords, rods and other DIY-weapons. He suffered injuries to his hands, legs and waist. But this is not the first time, Sandeep has been beaten up by a mob. During the lawyers' agitation at Tis Hazari in 2019 also he was brutally beaten up and had even managed to rescue then DCP (North) Monika Bhardwaj from the mob. Cops who spoke to this newspaper added that they
also suspected that many people part of the mob had consumed alcohol and that the fervour with which they chanted "Maaro, Maaro" pointed towards their possibly inebriated condition. Sandeep said, "Our main focus was to save the 200 people who were stuck inside the Red Fort. Those protestors were carrying their traditional weapons, rods and were continuously attacking us. We were telling them to stop but they were continuously shouting "Maaro Maaro". Never thought that violence would happen in Red Fort."
Woman Constable Ritu was also deployed for security at Red Fort. She said, "From the morning we were doing our duty. We have never thought they (protesters) will come inside Red Fort and will attack us."
She described how she was trapped with other cops inside an iron grill and could see her fellow personnel jumping inside a well to save themselves. "It was a horrific scene," she said. One of the protesters with a sword kept shouting at others to attack the other women personnel, Ritu added. "Somehow I was saved by other policemen," she said, adding that for a minute, she thought the end was near. Ritu has received injuries in her hands. And when PC Yadav, SHO of Wazirabad police station was trying to carry another cop who had collapsed due to the beating, to the hospital, he was attacked by protesters. "I told them that I was going to the hospital. They didn't care for a person who was already injured and attacked us. Yadav was hit on the head, nose and hands.
