DISCUSS our trauma in Parliament too, the families of four Delhi Police personnel injured in the July 20 CJP-led march to Parliament said on Friday while stressing that the discourse so far has largely centred on allegations of police excesses. Seeking to tell “their side” of the violence that broke out during the ‘Sansad Chalo’ march, they pressed for a discussion in Parliament on the injuries suffered by policemen on duty and the trauma endured by their families, saying the conversation so far had focused mainly on charges against the force. Addressing a press conference at the Constitution Club of India, the wife of an ACP, the wife of an ASI, and the children of two injured police officers recounted the hours they spent waiting for phone calls from hospitals, seeing bloodied family members return home and, later, watching social media narratives that they felt overlooked the injuries sustained by the police personnel. Recalling the night her husband returned home injured, Upneet Kaur, the wife of an ACP, described the experience as “traumatic” for her and their twoyear-old daughter. She claimed that police repeatedly appealed to the crowd to remain peaceful before bottles, stones, slippers and other objects were hurled at them. “Behind every uniform is not only a police officer; there is also a wife, children, parents and an entire family.

 

We want people to understand that,” she said, adding that the families had come together to share what they had gone through after the violence. Behind her, a slideshow displayed photographs of bleeding police personnel alongside figures that, the families claimed, reflected the scale of the violence. The presentation claimed that more than 250 police personnel were injured in the violence, while over 110 barricades, 300 body protectors, 350 helmets, 20 loudhailers, 10 hand-held metal detectors and one X-ray baggage scanner were damaged, with more than 25 government vehicles and private property vandalised. Seema, whose husband joined Delhi Police as a constable 33 years ago and now serves as an ASI, said that around 11 am on July 20, her husband told her over the phone that the crowd was large, and the protesters were preparing to march towards Parliament. Hours later, she got another call telling her that her husband was being treated at the LNJP Hospital. “When I spoke to him, he told me that some anti-social elements in the crowd attacked policemen with stones, flower pots, slippers and shoes. After that, his phone battery died, and I was terrified,” Seema said. Her husband returned home around 11 pm with his protective helmet broken, she said. “Had another stone struck his head after the helmet broke, he might not have survived. But for days, only one narrative has been discussed that police used brutality against students. That is only one side. We want what happened to police personnel and their families also to be discussed in Parliament,” she said.