Delhi riots: Outsiders camped at Shiv Vihar schools: Delhi Minorities Commission

March 5, 2020
New Delhi: More than 2,000 people occupied two schools in the Shiv Vihar area of the northeast Delhi, which was hit by violence in the last week of February, according to the preliminary report of the Delhi Minorities Commission (DMC).

The report comes amidst statements by the local population that the violence was mainly perpetrated by people who were not resident of the area .

A report has been prepared by DMC Chairman Zafarul Islam Khan and Kartar Singh Kochhar, a member of the commission, after visiting the violence-affected areas.

The two schools were Rajdhani Public School, run by Faisal Farooq, and DRP Convent School, run by Pankaj Sharma. The two schools share a wall.

Stating that the police should be held accountable for this, it asked how a 2,000-strong mob was allowed to stay there for more than 24 hours and carry out its plans.

According to school driver, over 500 people barged into his school at around 6.30 p.m. on February 24. “They wore helmets and hid their faces. They remained there for the next 24 hours,” he said.

The goons left the place next evening after arrival of the police force. “They were young, well-built people and carried giant catapults, which they used to throw petrol bombs from the school roof at houses across the road. Some of them used ropes, still in the school, to climb down into the adjacent school. They also took away computers and any smashed and burnt what they could not take away,” it said.

At DRP School, more than 1,500 people occupied the campus and stayed there for over 24 hours, said a school guard.

Rajdhani School also gave the panel a photograph of the mob that had occupied it.