Kejriwal uses video of assault to target Delhi Police, calls it BJP's private army

A video showing the Delhi Police and a few other persons assaulting a group of students has once again given an opportunity to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to target the Bharatiya Janata Party. Kejriwal, whose Aam Aadmi Party government has had a face-off with Delhi Police on several occasions, accused the BJP of using the force to target its rivals.

Kejriwal tweeted that BJP and its sister organisation the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh had been using Delhi Police as their private army. "Delhi Police being used by BJP/RSS as their private army to terrorise and teach lesson to anyone opposing BJP/RSS. I strongly condemn attack on students," tweeted the Delhi Chief Minister soon after a video of the assault went viral.

The two-day-old video shows Delhi Police personnel and a few others in civil dresses ruthlessly beating up some students. The students targeted in the video were reportedly protesting against the death of Hyderabad University Dalit PhD scholar Rohith Vemula.

The Men in khaki ruthlessly beat up students, including girls, who tried to stop them from carrying out the lathicharge. The incident happened in the national capital on January 30.

As the video begins, the students are seen and heard raising slogans of "Delhi Police murdabad", but it's followed by a sudden aggression from Delhi Police, who end up beating the students mercilessly, even as they hit at the camera shooting the same.

Reacting to the development, Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal has said that they would issue a notice to the Delhi Police. They have questioned why there were no female police personnel involved in the action, even as there were women protesters.

The Delhi Police, meanwhile, tried to shift the blame, alleging that the protesters provoked the police personnel. Speaking to CNN-IBN, Delhi Police Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Paramditya claimed that the protestors had broken barricades, and threw sticks, charging at the cops.

DCP Central Paramditya said, "It was protesters who provoked first. They threw banners and sticks at us. They broke the first barricade. Then they charged towards the second layer of barricade where max force was deployed."

He further said that an inquiry would be conducted and action would be taken against the defaulters. The Delhi Police, however, said that they were yet to ascertain if women protesters were beaten up by male policemen. "We are going through the video to ascertain that," he said.