Peace Activists Beaten Up in Delhi
Hindu
5 May, 2003
Three peace activists were beaten up by Bajrang Dal members at Laxmi Nagar District Centre ground in East Delhi today where they had gone to peacefully protest against "trishul" (trident) distribution ceremony. No sooner they took out their posters - which read we want employment not 'trishul' and we want peace and friendship not 'trishul' - outside the Coffee Home bus stop, lathi- wielding activists of Bajrang Dal surrounded them.
"We were not raising any slogan. It was only a quite way to register the feelings of lakhs of people against programmes like this which disturbs communal harmony and peace of society," said Vimal Bhai, at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital in Mayur Vihar, where he had gone for medical treatment. There were deep marks of lathi on his body, back and right leg while one of his finger was badly damaged. "Had we not been here, Vimal would have been killed. Though the police was standing at a distance, they thought it better not to come to our rescue. We were surrounded by the goons of Bajrang Dal. While Vimal was beaten with a lathi, we were badly manhandled by these people," said Durganashini Upadhyay, who is a software engineer. (Hindu