Delhi protests tone down after cop’s death

mangaloretoday.com/CNN

New Delhi, Dec 26: Protests in Delhi over the brutal rape of a 23-year-old have calmed down. On Tuesday, constable Subash Tomar was laid to rest with full state honours. He was injured in clashes with protestors and succumbed to his injuries.

Bus stops and metro stations in central Delhi remained cordoned off for the third consecutive day on Tuesday. But sensing the mood, the administration decided to reopen all metro stations near India Gate. The city seems to be returning to normal.

 

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police have now booked eight people in constable Tomar’s case, which includes a member of Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party. However, Kejriwal hit out at the government and the Delhi Police saying he was being framed for the death of constable Subhash Tomar. Kejriwal said, "There is not a single proof that the government has and they are only framing these youths. Police is trying to frame me, Baba Ramdev, General VK Singh. Are they taking some revenge from us?"

He said while the guilty must be punished, if any of these eight youths are innocent and there’s no proof against them, he’ll stand by them. "If any of those eight including AAP worker Chaman are responsible for the death of constable, we want them to punished. But if police are framing them, they have no evidence against these eight youths, we’ll stand by them," Kejriwal said.

Another person, who claims to be an eyewitness to Subhash Tomar’s death, has debunked the Delhi Police’s claim. He said the constable was not assaulted by protesters but simply collapsed while walking. "I was surprised to hear that 8 were arrested over Subhash Tomar’s death. I saw him in hospital and and his body didn’t have any injuries. He wasn’t trampled by a mob, he wasn’t assaulted. He just collapsed while walking. I don’t think people should be arrested over this," Yogendra, the eyewitness, said.

Rape survivor’s health improves, but she’s still on ventilator

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old rape survivor’s health has improved, but she still remains on ventilator support. Doctors say the ventilator support was slowly being reduced and that the 23-year-old rape survivor was doing much better as compared to Monday. They said she was alert and able to communicate through hand gestures.