Seelampur: Travel Agent Blames Police for Damages in Anti-CAA Stir

A travel agent in Seelampur claims his office was targeted by the police during the violence at anti-CAA protests.

Anees Malik narrates how the police ransacked his office during the protest march at Seelampur.

(Photo: Rittu Jacob/The Quint)

Video Editor: Sandeep Suman

Anees Malik, 40, has been running a small travel agency in Seelampur in East Delhi since 2006. Five years ago, he lost the ability to walk as he sustained a gun shot wound to his spine. On Tuesday, 17 December, residents of Jaffrabad and Seelampur had organised a peaceful protest march against police brutality on students of Jamia Millia Islamia.

Eyewitnesses say that some miscreants with past police records joined the march and started pelting stones on a bus which prompted the police to disperse the crowd.

Anees, showing us a video, says that the police opened the shutters of his shop and shattered the glass window panes, breaking his desktop and printer, in the aftermath of the protests.

“They also took the DVR, there’s at least an estimated loss of Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000. I called on the emergency 100 and lodged my complaint.”

Anees Malik

Anees added that he wasn’t at his shop when the incident took place and was alerted about the same by a call. He narrates the story, holding up a broken bit of a police baton which was recovered from his office.

Malik’s lawyer, Omkar Singh, who will file a case on his behalf at the Karkardooma Court, says that as of now the police has not registered a formal complaint.

Anees expects recompense for the loss he has incurred – based on multiple videos shot by neighbours, who recorded the day’s events on their mobile phones, hidden on their rooftops, away from the glare of the police.

In one such video, the police can be seen barging inside Anees’ office, dragging his two workers out and thrashing them with a stick.

The Quint reached out to Delhi Police for a response but has not received one as yet.