Fayiza CA
“The bullet pierced through my chest and went out from the other side,” says fifteen-year-old Muhammed Zakkir who was shot at Shiv Vihar while standing outside his house.
Around six minors were among those who were admitted to the GTB hospital with serious bullet injuries during the anti-Muslim violence that erupted in northeast Delhi on Monday.
Fifteen-year-old Saif was on his way to his father’s shop when he got shot at Kabir Nagar. Saif was shot in his stomach and has undergone surgery to remove the bullet.
“I was walking to my father’s shop. I saw the street was crowded and there were people with rods and other weapons. Suddenly I felt something piercing through my stomach. I fell unconscious,” Saif recounts with horror.
Thirteen-year-old Junaid was shot in his back, near the spine on 25th February evening after the violence erupted in Jaffrabad.
He was shot while he was coming home from a relative’s place. Junaid finds it difficult to speak or move due to the surgery he has undergone to remove the bullet.
Faizan, fourteen-year-old boy was hit on his back near the spine, while going out to buy breakfast, near Kardampuri.
“I was walking and saw people running in front of me. I was caught in the middle of the crowd and stumbled and fell. When I got up, I got hit on the back and fell down again,” Faizan explains.
Faizan has no one other than an aunt and the family runs on his income. Faizan is now admitted to and is recovering in ward number twenty of GTB hospital.
Seventeen-year-old Nitheesh was shot in his stomach on Monday morning while he was standing outside his house at Goravalnagar.
There are more than twenty people including minors admitted to ward number fourteen of GTB hospital due to bullet injuries.
Some of them were hit with two to three bullets. Rizwan, who was hit on his stomach at Chandbagh while going for work alleged that it was the police who fired at him.
“I saw the police in front of me shouting out to the mob to beat and kill people. I am sure it is the police that fired at me. I saw it with my eyes”, he says.
Almost half of those killed in Delhi’s anti-Muslim violence lost their lives to bullets, while more than half of those injured were hit by blunt objects like rods and stones, hospital authorities said.
Many bullet victims raised allegations against the police and Hindutva mobs. Most of them suffered gunshots on the upper part of their body.
Fayiza CA studies MA, Media Governance at Jamia Millia Islamia and a regular contributor of Maktoob
