Two separate groups of women from the riot-hit areas of north-east Delhi, one of which was present at the Chand Bagh protest on Monday, and one which was present at the violence perpetrated at Shiv Vihar, have told The Wire that members of a right-wing mob pulled down their pants, exposed their genitals to them and said, “Yeh lo azaadi.”
“I was standing at the Chand Bagh protest site when two members of our protest had been detained by the police. The women of the protest came out to confront the policemen and ask where they had been taken. A group of right-wingers came up to us, shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’, and four men there pulled their pants down and pointed their genitals at us, and shouted ‘Yeh lo azaadi’,” says Asifa*, who did not want her name to be published for fear that she would be arrested. “Our men came out and made a line in front of us, to protect us, and the mob started throwing stones at them. The police went behind the protest and started throwing tear gas shells into the protest site, so we could not respond because we were coughing and crying. There were women and children there. The police lathi charged us”
She fell unconscious during the tear gassing. Others there – including elderly women and pregnant women – sustained injuries after being lathi charged by the police.
This sequence of events was also narrated by an activist who was present at the site, saying the incident took place around noon at Chand Bagh on Monday, February 24
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