The youth who fired a pistol at a group of anti-CAA protesters near the Jamia Millia University, in which a student was injured, was on Friday sent to a 14-day protective custody by the Juvenile Justice Board, police said.
The accused was presented before the Board in the afternoon, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rajesh Deo said.
The police said they have also urged the Board to form a medical panel to conduct a bone ossification test that will verify the age of the youth.
On Thursday, the accused fired a pistol at a group of anti-CAA protesters, injuring Jamia student Shadab Farooq, before walking away while waving the firearm above his head and shouting "Yeh lo aazadi" amid heavy police presence. The Crime Branch is probing the case.
Earlier, a 17-year-old whipped out a gun in broad daylight on Wednesday, waiv-ed it menacingly for a few chilling minutes and then fired it at students protesting against the citizenship law near Jamia Millia University in Delhi, injuring one.
Curiously, a contingent of Delhi police, which has been posted at Shaheen Bagh, the protest venue, watched the incident from the margins, making no attempt to overpower him.
The intervention came only after he had fired the shot and was leisurely walking backwards; it was only then that the police, fully equipped in riot gear, held him by the arm and accosted him from the spot. Later, the police said that he was a juvenile and cannot be named.
"Yeh lo azaadi (here's your freedom)" the youth said, spewing venom at the protesters, as he kept thrusting the gun in their direction. While being taken away, he shouted "Delhi Police zindabad (Long live Delhi Police)".
The incident has come in the run up to the Delhi elections on February 8 and close on the heels of hate speeches made during the campaign.
In fact, the previous day, Union Minister Anurag Thakur has been banned from campaigning for 72 hours after he was caught on camera trying to egg on a gather-ing with the chant: "Desh Ke Gaddaro Ko…’’ In, turn, it elicited an enthusiastic response from cheerleaders: Goli Maaro Gaddaron Ko (Shoot the traitors)."
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