Delhi, the heart of the Republic, witnessed a brazen assault on the rule of law when a police team sent to arrest a wanted criminal in Fatehpur Beri was overpowered, humiliated, and thrashed by a violent Islamist-backed mob. The shocking scenes captured on camera show uniformed police officers being kicked, pushed to the ground, and pelted with stones in what officers themselves described as “Kashmir-style resistance.”
The target of the arrest, Md Azam, is a declared “bad character” in the police record books. With a non-bailable warrant against him, his detention should have been routine. Instead, locals aligned with Islamist muscle power mobilized instantly, turning a simple arrest into a full-scale street battle against the state’s authority.
The incident unfolded when the police team arrived at Azam’s residence. What followed was nothing short of an orchestrated assault. Officers were manhandled, their uniforms torn, and their dignity stripped in public view. A woman police officer, surrounded by attackers, was pushed down and kicked on the chest an image that has now come to symbolize the sheer brazenness of mob rule in the national capital.
Reinforcements that arrived in a police van faced no better fate. Videos show men and women encircling officers, thrashing them, and hurling stones at police vehicles. Sticks were brandished as weapons, and the crowd operated with the kind of coordination that spoke less of spontaneous anger and more of a premeditated Islamist-style operation to ensure Azam’s escape.
Azam’s flight was no accident it was enabled. The mob’s violence was not simply about shielding a local tough; it was about sending a message: the law does not apply here. Police investigations have confirmed that Azam’s relatives orchestrated the resistance, summoning neighbors and sympathisers to unleash chaos and guarantee his freedom.
This is not the first time Islamist networks have shielded criminals in such a manner. Law enforcement sources privately admit that “stone-pelting as a tool of resistance” is a familiar tactic seen in Islamist-dominated regions of Kashmir, and its appearance in Delhi is both deliberate and deeply alarming.
Md Azam is not new to the system. Police records reveal multiple charges of obstruction of justice, assault, and violent intimidation. His notoriety in the Fatehpur Beri area had already earned him the designation of “bad character.” Yet his open defiance of the police, aided by Islamist street mobilisation, has now elevated him from local criminal to a symbol of dangerous impunity.
In the aftermath, police registered fresh FIRs under sections relating to assaulting public servants, aiding escape, and obstructing government duties. Multiple suspects, including Azam’s family members, have been booked. However, the larger question looms: if mobs can so easily thrash officers and strip the police of their authority in broad daylight in Delhi, what message does this send to the rest of the country?
Senior officials within the Delhi Police have admitted that the scale and coordination of the attack shocked even hardened personnel. “This was not mere resistance to an arrest. This was rebellion open defiance of the state’s authority by Islamist groups emboldened by local support,” said one officer, requesting anonymity.
