Delhi riot accused, out on parole gets hero’s welcome

NEW DELHI:  Shahrukh Pathan, the man who was captured on camera pointing a gun at an unarmed
policeman during the February 2020 communal riots in Northeast Delhi, received a rousing welcome in his locality when he went home on four-hour parole to meet his ailing father.

A video of the incident went viral on social media on Friday. In the video, dated May 23, Pathan can be seen walking down the streets accompanied by a handful of policemen and a huge crowd, cheering, whistling and raising slogans in his favour. A senior jail officer said Pathan was sent home by court order on a four-hour ‘custody parole’ on “humanitarian” grounds.

BJP leader Kapil Mishra posted the video on his Twitter account and lamented that a person who pointed a gun at policemen was being made a hero. “In Delhi, several places have become mini-Pakistan. This mentality has become the country’s enemy,” he tweeted, adding that “this mentality will be crushed”.

Pathan shot to infamy when he pointed a loaded pistol at a policeman in the Jafrabad-Maujpur locality. The court framed charges against him in the case, observing that the accused raised his pistol aiming straight at the head of Delhi

Police head constable Deepak Dahiya. The illegal firearm, a 7.65 mm pistol along with two live rounds, was recovered and several shots had been fired by him, according to police. Pathan was charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act for rioting, assault, attempt to murder, unlawful assembly and obstructing a public servant in discharge of duty among others. He had pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

Pathan is currently lodged in Tihar Jail after he was arrested on March 3 last year from Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh. Over 50 people had died in the communal riots that erupted over the clashes during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.