Blood-soaked uniforms, broken helmets: Delhi cops’ families speak out after CJP protest

“That’s when we decided to approach the court,” she said.

Kunjal was on Friday joined by the families of three other injured police personnel, who have decided to move court, at the Constitution Club.

Their stories were similar: Their family members had returned home with broken helmets and stitches but their account of the clashes had gone unheard.

Demanding a transparent probe, the families alleged that anti-social elements had infiltrated the protest and attacked police personnel deployed on duty during the multiple clashes that broke out between students and police last week.

The press conference came a day after the Delhi government ordered that while no action would be taken against students involved in the protest, those with criminal backgrounds would be investigated.

Kunjal said her father, who had earlier served for 15 years in the Navy as a marine commando, had repeatedly told the family that the protest had ceased to be a student movement and that anti-social elements had entered the crowd.

On July 25, she said, he was deployed at the frontline barricade at Jantar Mantar when he was attacked around 2 pm.

“He was almost lynched… He remained unconscious in the hospital for nearly four hours and reached home only around 10 pm… The next day, I saw on social media that protesters were calling my father and other police personnel criminals and were approaching court. That’s when I decided to seek justice through the courts. Later, other families also extended their support,” Kunjal added.

Seema, wife of an assistant sub-inspector injured during the clashes on July 20 during CJP’s ‘Sansad Chalo’ march, said her husband came home with a head injury and a shattered helmet.

“My husband has served in the force for 33 years… On July 20, when I called him around 11 am, he told me the crowd was huge and becoming unmanageable. I asked him to take care,” she added.

Around 7 pm, she heard that he had been admitted to Lok Nayak Hospital after a blow to the head. “He told me the mob had turned violent and that some outsiders had joined in, throwing sandals, stones and whatever they could find. When he returned home at 11 pm, I saw his helmet was broken. Someone later told us that had he not been wearing his helmet, he would not have survived,” Seema claimed.

She appealed to the government and parliamentary representatives to remember that police personnel have families too.

Lakshya Bisht, son of an assistant commissioner of police (ACP), said he received a photograph of his father with a part of his head shaved and four stitches after he was injured while trying to shield senior officers from stone-pelting on July 25.

“Around 2 pm, a friend called to tell me my father had been injured… I was terrified.”

“My father said rowdy and disruptive elements had exploited the protest and tried to create mayhem. The stone-pelting began suddenly while he was briefing his staff. He tried to shield his seniors but was attacked,” Lakshya said.

Upneet Kaur, whose husband is also an ACP, said he was injured on July 20. “He returned home with a head injury that night… It was traumatic.”