Jamia shooting: Delhi court sends 17-year-old gunman who fired at anti-CAA protesters to 14-day protective custody

The 17-year-old youth who fired at students of the Jamia Millia Islamia university during an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest on Thursday, was sent to 14-day protective custody by a Delhi court on Friday.

The youth was earlier produced before the Juvenile Justice Board, PTI reported.

Delhi Police sources told NDTV the shooter showed "no remorse for his actions", that he had been influenced by social media, TV coverage and WhatsApp videos, and he wanted to create panic at Shaheen Bagh. "He did not know how to get to Shaheen Bagh. An auto driver dropped him off at Jamia and told him he could not go to Shaheen Bagh as the road is shut. He told him to walk it," a police officer told NDTV.

The shooter at the Jamia Millia Islamia university on Thursday. PTI

On Thursday, protesters and police personnel faced off near the university after the youth fired a pistol at a group of anti-CAA protesters, injuring a student before walking away while waving the firearm over his head shouting "yeh lo aazadi".

An FIR under Section 307, the charge of attempt to murder, was filed against the gunman and he was taken in for questioning, Devesh Shrivastava, Joint Commissioner of Police, said on Thursday.

Shahdab Farooq, the injured student from Kashmir, was discharged from the AIIMS trauma centre on Friday morning after he underwent surgery for the injury to his left arm on Thursday night. "His father reached Delhi on Thursday night, but Shahdab won't go back home in Kashmir. He will stay at the university," Al-Ameen, a friend of Farooq's said.

Farooq, who received bullet wound on his left hand, was earlier admitted to AIIMS. No injury to blood vessels or nerves were sustained, a doctor was quoted as saying by PTI.

The incident caused outrage across society, with Opposition leaders, journalists, activists, and citizens accusing the Delhi Police of inaction after photos and videos emerged of the force standing some yards behind the youth.

However, Praveer Ranjan, the Special Commissioner of the Delhi Police said that the incident happened in a "split second" which is why the police "couldn't react immediately".

With inputs from agencies