Jamia violence: Two protesters wounded, police probe bullet injury claims

“It needs to be investigated whether the bullets were fired by police personnel or someone else. Police are likely to approach ballistic experts for more clarity,” they said.

Officials and relatives identified the two students as Ajaz Ahmad, a 20-year-old BA student, and Mohammed Suhaib, a 23-year-old B.Tech student.

Delhi Police have officially denied that they “fired bullets at any student”, and said that they would investigate the matter.

Sources at the hospital confirmed that two students had been brought in Sunday evening — one with an injury to his chest and another to his leg — and both told doctors that they had been shot at. Further tests are required to confirm the nature of the injuries, hospital sources said.

Relatives of Ahmad said he was returning home after buying medicines for his mother when he saw cars being vandalised in the area. His family claimed he was then shot in the chest.

A relative of the second man, Suhaib, said he had “suffered an injury in his foot” but had not been told by doctors if he was shot at.

According to hospital sources, both patients have been operated on and will be under observation for two more days. At both wards, police personnel were stationed outside.

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In Ahmad’s case, a doctor who did not wish to be identified said a “particle” had been removed from his chest. “He is stable. Doctors have removed a particle from his body, but we are not sure what it is — bullet or teargas shell fragment,” said a doctor.

“Suhaib is conscious. He suffered a fracture on the toe, which is bandaged right now. We will be able to assess the nature of injuries once the bandage is removed. A K-wire has been placed in his leg for stability,” said another doctor.

Allegations also emerged that a third person had been admitted to Holy Family Hospital with a gunshot wound, but hospital authorities denied this and said the discharge report mentioned ‘gunshot injury’ in the ‘history’ section because that’s what the patient had told them.

“It was alleged by his family members at the time of admission that it was a gunshot injury. But if you look at the discharge summary, the procedure performed on him explains that a foreign particle has been removed. It does not talk about any bullet,” said Father George P A, director, Holy Family Hospital.

Express Cartoon by E P Unny.

When contacted, DCP (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said, “There have been rumours about bullet injuries and firing in the Jamia incident. The MLC report from Holy Family states that there’s an alleged history of a gunshot wound. This was written based on the statement of the injured. We have not fired bullets at any student. Any foreign body like metal or plastic could have caused injury. Two injured at Safdarjung too alleged gunshot injuries, but if anyone would have been shot at, the ambulance would take them to Holy Family or Fortis, which are the closest. Despite this, we are probing whether the injured were hit by bullets or not.”

(With Somya Lakhani)