NEW DELHI: Two days ahead of Independence Day, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) student Umar Khalid was shot at by an unidentified man at the Constitution Club near Parliament, currently under a thick security cover. Umar Khalid escaped unhurt, police said.
The popular student leader was at the venue to attend an event “Khauff Se Azaadi”, put together by an organisation named ‘United Against Hate’.
“There is an atmosphere of fear in the country, and anybody who speaks against the government is threatened,” he said after the attack.
According to an eyewitness, the man approached the student, fired and escaped. “We were at a tea stall when a man in white shirt came, pushed and opened fire at him. Khalid lost his balance, fell down and the bullet missed him. We tried to catch the man. He fired in the air but when the pistol slipped off his hands, he fled,” an eyewitness said.
Fellow JNU student and activist Shehla Rashid is shocked and worried. “Shocking and highly condemnable. I spoke to Umar. He’s okay, but we should be very very worried about his safety,” she tweeted.
Umar Khalid had filed a complaint alleging death threats in June said he was on the “hit list”.
“Filed a complaint with @DelhiPolice regarding Ravi Pujari’s death threat to Jignesh and me. He said that I am on his HIT LIST! I have asked for police protection, given the fact that this is the same person who had previously also issued similar threats of killing me in Feb 2016 (sic),” he had tweeted.
In 2016, Mr Khalid’s father Syed Qasim Illyas Rasool had filed a police complaint, claiming he received a phone call “threatening to kill” his son if he doesn’t leave the country.
The threat came around the time when the police were looking for Umar Khalid in connection with the sedition case filed against him, former JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar and Anirban Bhattacharya for allegedly organising an event against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
(With inputs from agencies)
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