A group called the ‘Lawyers for Detainees’ issued a statement slamming the newly-election AAP MLAs for “inaction” regarding the anti-Muslim violence that continued for the third consecutive day on Tuesday in northeast Delhi.
“We are appalled by the complete avoidance of the issue by the newly-elected Delhi government and strongly condemn the inaction on their part,” the statement said.
‘We repeatedly reached out to MLAs of various constituencies seeking their assistance in securing emergency service, in Maujpur. That contacted include 1) Ram Niwas Goer (MLA. Shandara) 2) Atishi (MLA. Kalkaji) 3) Somnath Bharti (MLA, Malviya Nagar) 4) Raghav Chadha (MLA. Rajinder Nagar). Despite making several attempts to get in touch. these elected representatives who took charge less than 10 days ago have completely evaded the issue of #DelhiBurning,” the statement said.
“We received ground reports of Qureshi Tower on Vijay Park Road, Maujpur, Shandara being set on fire. Since locals were unable to contact the fire department owing to network issues in the area. they reached out via messages to alert the department. Emergency number 101 was unresponsive. We reached out to the Delhi Fire Service Fire Control Room via contact details available online,” it added.
“Shockingly. we were informed by the Fire Department that their vehicles were already at the spot and were waiting outside but they could not enter as the police had refused to provide protection to the fire department. We then contacted the abovementioned MLAs in order to secure their assistance in securing safe passage for the Fire Department. Mr. Ram Niwas Goers’ office claimed that Qureshi Tower was not within his constituency and that he did not wish to talk about it. We were also told that he could not do anything since law and order were not under AAP. before hanging up,” the statement says.
“Ms. Atishi’s office also responded by saying that law and order did not fall under the Delhi government. Repeated attempts to contact subsequently were ignored. We also tried to contact Mr. Somnath Bharti and Mr. Raghav Chadha but they failed to answer their phones while our city bunts,” Lawyers for Detainees reveals.
“Law and Order may be under the Central Government, but the AAP government would do well to remember that common citizens of Delhi voted them to power with a Nsounding majority vote two weeks ago. They cannot and will not be allowed to quietly shirk their duty towards the citizens of Delhi, the statement concludes.
