Violence in the North East district of Delhi has crippled the national capital with Delhiites paying the price. The communal strife that saw pelting of stones, torching of houses, burning of vehicles and attack on journalists has claimed at least 20 lives so far.
As tension and fear blankets the city, the citizens bear the cost of Delhi violence during clashes over Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Some of the costs paid by Delhiites are as follows:
1. Postponement of CBSE exam | The Central Board of Secondary Education postponed the board exams for Class 10 and 12 scheduled on February 26 in violence-affected north-east Delhi — Jafrabad, Maujpur, Baburpur, Noorilahi, Yamuna Vihar. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed the CBSE to take a decision on rescheduling board exams to be held in these centres by 5 pm and to inform the public by 6 pm.
2. Milk, vegetable prices up | Vegetable and milk prices in some pockets of the violence-hit north-east Delhi has gone up as shops remained shut amid a curfew-like situation. Some shops, which are open are running out of supplies quickly. The Delhi police had on Tuesday clamped restrictions on the gathering of four or more people under Section 144 of CrPC in a bid to check violent clashes which has also left more than 200 injured.
3. Loss of lives | At the time of publishing this article, death toll due to the Delhi violence stood at 22. It included an Intelligence Bureau Officer, Ankit Sharma, who was found dead near his home in Chand Bagh. According to PTI, the officer may have been killed in the stone pelting incident. The number of people injured in the incident, including police personnel, stands at 200 as of now.
4. Heavy deployment of forces | As tension escalated on Tuesday, sixty-seven companies (or 6,700 personnel) of police and paramilitary forces were deployed across the area. Terming the situation as "alarming," Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday asked the Centre to immediately deploy Indian Army in the national capital amid unabated communal clashes.
5. Rising tension between two religious communities | The ongoing clashes have reignited tension between two religious communites. Amid the rising tensions, journalist Rana Ayyub shared a video of a mob chanting "Jai Shri Ram" and "Hinduon ka Hindustan" planted a saffron flag atop a mosque in Delhi, which apparently turned out to be an old video. Even as the incident occurred in the Ashok Nagar area of Delhi (earlier it was described as Ashok Vihar but rectified) where no violence has been reported, the video went viral, giving rise to misinformation.
A Mumbai resident Ramesh Solanki has filed a police complaint seeking action against Ayyub on Wednesday for posting an "old" video purportedly of the Delhi violence.
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