JNU student Umar Khalid gun shot in Delhi, near Parliament house

New Delhi : Independence Day is heading and despite of high security in the capital Delhi, Umar Khalid, an ex student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, was shot at this afternoon at the Constitution Club near parliament. Luckily, Khalid was left unhurt, but the attacker managed to escape from the scene.

Mr Khalid told media that a man came from behind, punched him and pushed him to the ground. "I was coming back from a tea-stall and was at the gate of the Constitution Club when I was attacked. He had a pistol. I kept holding his hand to stop him from firing. He ran to the other side and fired. My friends overpowered him but he escaped," he said.

 

Earlier in June, Umar Khalid filed a complaint with the police, saying he had received death threats from gangster Ravi Pujari. Sources said two years ago, his father was also received threat calls.

Umar Khalid, the student leader had gone to the Constitution Club to speak on mob lynchings at an event "Khauff Se Azaadi", held by an organisation named 'United Against Hate' when he was attacked.

"I don't know who they were. The message is clear that you should live in fear, that you can be killed anytime if you speak against the government. Gauri Lankesh, Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare were killed. Dr Kafil Khan's brother was attacked. We are raising our voice, what's wrong with that," he told media and said he will file a complaint.

The police are investigating the incident. "Somebody pounced on Umar Khalid and pushed, thereafter he tried to fire at Khalid. But the person immediately couldn't fire. People started chasing him thereafter according to Khalid the attacker fired in the air," said senior police officer Madhur Verma.

After the attack, fellow JNU student and activist Shehla Rashid said she was 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, who was accused of sedition along with Kanhaiya Kumar, had received another death threat two years ago.  The threat came around the time the police was looking for him in connection with the sedition case for allegedly organising an event against the hanging of 2001 Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.