Two persons who sustained skull bone fractures and a third with a broken leg were among 49 people who were brought to Lok Nayak hospital after a march from Jama Masjid to Delhi Gate turned violent Friday evening. While most of them were sent away the same day after treatment, the three with serious injuries will be discharged only next week, doctors said. According to doctors, Sadique (40) and a 16-year-old boy sustained serious injuries on their heads and are under observation at the neurosurgery ward. “There are laceration wounds on the skull, which can be due to the stones. They have also suffered a skull bone fracture, which means something with a heavy impact has hit them hard. We had conducted a CT scan of the brain and the report is a little problematic. There are minor clots as well. As of now, both are stable," Dr P N Pandey from department of neurosurgery at Lok Nayak hospital told The Indian Express. On Friday, protesters marching towards Jantar Mantar from Jama Masjid were stopped by police and paramilitary personnel near Delhi Gate. As the situation escalated in the evening, a car was set on fire and stone pelting started. Police resorted to lathi-charge and used a water cannon to control the situation. Police have blamed people from outside the area for the violence. Around 10 people suffered soft-tissue injury on the skull, which means there was some damage to the muscles. The injured were discharged after taking CT scans. Meanwhile, two journalists have filed a complaint against Delhi Police officials for allegedly assaulting them during the protest. The two — S Arunashankar and Vaisakh Jayapalan — work for Malayalam newspaper Mathrubhumi, and were covering protests against the new citizenship law. The duo have also alleged that police officials broke their equipment. “We were at the barricades when the car was set ablaze. My cameraperson and I moved forward. Suddenly we were surrounded by police and one of them hit me with a lathi on the back of my head,” said Arunashankar, a reporter. According to them, police then targeted Jayapalan and beat him. “Jayapalan was chased for 500 meters by four-five policemen and hit with lathis. One of them snatched his camera and threw it,” said Arunashankar. While Arunashankar has swelling on his head, doctors have ruled out internal injuries. The cameraman also received injuries, they said.
