‘Battered capital’ in HT while Telegraph calls out PM’s 69-hour late response
Theprint
February
27,2020
‘Battered capital’ in HT while Telegraph calls out PM’s
69-hour late response
Violence-hit Delhi
with a rising death toll dominates Page 1. The Supreme Court and High Court
statements criticising police inaction also figure prominently across newspapers.
The financial press
marks the economic woes due to coronavirus concerns while lone wolf Business
Standard focuses on the telecom industry’s never-ending troubles.
The Times of India’s
headline “Toll soars to 27…” says it all. The lead report on ‘26-Yr-Old IB
official among those killed’, notes, “The latest victim was a young
Intelligence Bureau official, Ankit Sharma, whose body was found floating in a
drain in the Chand Bagh area.”
On a more positive
note, the report, ‘Their houses burnt, many Muslims find safe haven in Hindu
homes’ speaks of how “40-odd Muslim residents of northeast Delhi’s Ashok Nagar
have found brotherhood and hope amid the smouldering ruins.”
On the top court’s
observations (`SC: Lives could have been save…’), the paper writes: “Supreme
Court on Wednesday blamed Delhi Police for not acting in time and questioned
the Centre for not taking steps to allow police to function professionally and
independently.”
The Indian Express,
in its lead ‘HC reads Delhi Police the riots act’, highlights sharp details
from the hearing Wednesday, in which the court “questioned the conduct” of the
law enforcement agency. Judges Muralidhar and Talwar Singh remarked that “this city
has seen enough violence” and “let it not repeat 1984” as it directed the
police to register FIRs against those who had made incendiary speeches earlier.
The report points out that “Justice Muralidhar was transferred” after the
central government had issued a notification Wednesday.
Do read about ‘Police
fumbling, NSA Doval steps in…’ — National Security Advisor Ajit Doval “stepped
in”, walking “the streets of riots-hit areas of northeast Delhi going
door-to-door and assuring residents of safety.”
Hindustan Times calls
Delhi the “battered capital” and the lead photograph describes the scene only
too well. On delayed police action, the lead report notes, “Security forces
appeared to regain control of the battered areas after National Security
Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval stepped in and led teams of senior police officers to
riot-hit localities.”
Monday and Tuesday
were days when violence was at its peak and the story, ‘4 distress calls to
cops every min from NE Delhi’ reveals that data from the Police Control Room
(PCR) found “3,300 distress calls were made from the north-east district on
Monday, and at least 7,520 on Tuesday.”
In ‘Why no FIR for
hate speeches’, the Delhi High Court pulled up the police for not filing FIRs
against those inciting violence using hate speech. The court, in an unusual
move, “watched… videos of hate speeches’’ made by four BJP leaders — Kapil
Mishra, Abhay Verma, Parvesh Verma and Anurag Thakur.
On its flap, that
can’t be seen here, HT has an exclusive, ‘RAW ex-chief tried to gauge Farooq’s
mood on new order in J&K’. The story says that there was a hushed meeting
between former RAW chief, A.S. Dulat and Farooq Abdullah. The paper notes, “The
brief for Dulat’s secret mission was simple: to suss out Abdullah’s mood in
‘accepting the new reality of Jammu & Kashmir after the nullification of
Article 370’. An official “familiar with what transpired in the meeting” said
Abdullah was “furious and refused to yield any ground”.
And, here’s a fun
piece: ‘Discovered: Animal that can live without O2’ — “The tiny, less than
10-celled parasite Henneguya salminicola lives in salmon muscle, according to
the finding published on Tuesday in the journal PNAS.”
If you want a quick
recap of developments in the Delhi riots, The Hindu is your go-to paper. The
lead, ‘Death toll rises to 27..’ reads: “After four days, both the Centre and
the Delhi government swung into action, with National Security Adviser Ajit
Doval and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal going to the disturbed parts of the
city on Wednesday to rebuild confidence among people.” The paper calls this the
“worst-ever communal riots’’ in the capital since 1984.
The report, ‘Timely
action by Delhi Police could have saved lives’, quotes the Supreme Court during
its hearing and adds, “Solicitor General Tushar Mehta tried to hush the judge
lest his oral remarks ‘demoralise the police’ during these tense times.”
The anchor story, ‘In
Rakhigarhi, anxiety trumps history’, is highly readable. The Harappan site has
“little to show the thousands of years of history beneath” but the “Centre is
moving ahead with its plan to develop the site as a tourist hub and set up a
museum.”
The Telegraph takes
on PM Modi’s delayed response in its headline — `I appeal (after 69 hours) . A
series of smaller reports note statements made by the Opposition, the Delhi
High Court and a journalist’s on-ground account. The HC “expressed ‘anguish’ at
the delay in filing of FIRs against hate speeches by BJP leaders, asking
solicitor-general Tushar Mehta: “What’s the appropriate time, Mr Mehta? The
city is burning.”
In ‘Forced to drop
pants: Journalist’ — A journalist covering the riots “alleged on Wednesday that
he was assaulted while filming in a riot-hit area and forced to drop his pants
to check if he was circumcised.”
In another report
“Abdication by elected twins” gives an ironic and scathing account of all that
was “served” up to US President Donald Trump during his visit: “27 snuffed
human lives, more than 200 injured would, thousands scarred and scared and
fleeing.”
The New Indian
Express lead headline is almost worshipful — ‘Sanity gets a chance as Doval
plays peacemaker…’
The report says that
National Security Adviser Ajit Doval’s visit to riot-hit areas, “helped restore
a semblance of normalcy”. This straight out contradicts the lede paragraph, in
which the paper notes that “although the Delhi Police and security forces kept
a hawk’s eye, tension simmered in all the violence-hit areas”.
The report about the
Delhi police being “hauled over the coals” by the High Court and Supreme Court,
highlights details about the number of FIRs that have been filed (only 18) and
the “testy exchange” between SC Judge KM Joseph and Solicitor General Tushar
Mehta. There are also references to BJP leaders Kapil Mishra, Anurag Thakur and
Parvesh Verma.
Comments
Post a Comment