‘Ruk jaao, aao baat karte hain baith ke.’
(Hold on. Come, let’s sit down and talk.)
Before getting shot in the hand, Shadab Najar, a first-year Mass Communication student at Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi, tried to stop the armed man waving his gun outside the university campus on Thursday, 30 January, his friends recounted.
Soon after the incident, images of an injured Shadab holding his bleeding hand and being comforted by a friend were shared widely. The Quint spoke to the woman in the picture, Midhat Samra, a third-year Economics (Hons) students at the university.
She recalled:
“We had organised a protest march against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on Thursday. We were all walking towards the police barricades when a man came out of nowhere and brandished his gun at all of us. Without thinking anything, Shadab went ahead and tried to calm the gunman. Shadab asked him to put the gun down twice. When he said it for the third time, the armed man shot at him.”
Midhat added, “The moment I heard the gunshot, I went blank and I ran towards him, held his hand and started taking him towards Holy Family Hospital.”
“I was continuously shouting and asking the policemen to remove the barricades, but they didn’t remove it till Shadab showed them that his hand was bleeding. Then they asked him to cross over the barricades,” Midhat said.
Midhat said she knew Shadab because they had joined the same theatre club in the university. “He is into theatre and is also great singer.”
This young student from Jammu wants to be a photo-journalist and has been chronicling the anti-CAA protests in Delhi, Midhat said. “He wanted to make a documentary on the protests that sprung from our campus.”
Another old friend of Shadab shared a video and an image of him dancing at the Ramlila Jhanki near Delhi’s Govindpuri. Mohd Ghufran wrote, “Shadab an old friend, who was shot today, not sharing the videos and photos of today here in this thread, just want to share a glimpse of india with you all today.”
After a successful operation, Shadab was discharged from AIIMS Delhi’s Trauma Centre on Friday. After taking his exam on Saturday, he plans to go back to his hometown in Jammu, Midhat said.
The man who shot Shadab is allegedly a minor from Uttar Pradesh who has now been apprehended by Delhi Police and charged under Section 307 (attempt to murder).
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)