Shahrukh Pathan: The Person Behind the Iconic Image of Northeast Delhi Riots

An image of twenty-four-year-old Shahrukh Pathan where he is seen pointing a gun at a policeman on the first day of the 2020 Delhi riots, shook the entire country. He walked out on the main road between northeast Delhi’s Jaffrabad and Maujpur, which was the epicentre of the violence, with a brazen confidence in his gait. Unfazed by the policemen in riot gear, he shot bullets in the air while media persons captured his acts in astonishment. The fact that the gym enthusiast, who was also a local, did not wear a mask to hide his identity, made his ‘bravado’ seem peculiar and odd.

Accused in 2 FIRs under charges of attempt to murder and sections of the Arms Act, his bail plea may now be moved in the Supreme Court. While rejecting his plea under FIR 51, the Delhi High Court said that “the video clips (of Shahrukh Pathan) had shaken the court’s conscience”. The bail plea against the second FIR against him, is being heard in Delhi’s Karkardooma court.

We answer these queries and beyond, to find out who Pathan is and the sequence of events that led him to being tagged as the poster boy of the Delhi carnage. Despite being a face of the riots, we also learnt about how his family was disappointed that UAPA accused, who are accused of being conspirators of the violence, ‘sidelined’ him as their ‘lawyers told them to’.

Going back to 24 February, Shahrukh was waiting for his mother to serve him biryani hours before his image would go viral.

“He got dressed up, as he would and said he was stepping out with his friends. I told him I would offer namaz first and then give him food. He proceeded to wait downstairs with his friends,” his mother, 60-year-old Shahana Begum, tells this reporter while she presses her limbs that are in pain.

His family members tell us how Shahrukh’s primary interest was how he looked and what he wore. He would never leave home without wearing crisp ironed clothes, good shoes, gel in the hair, which had to be blow-dried. “He made TikTok videos and stared at himself in the mirror most times. He was always modelling and taking photos. He was innocent and simple-minded,” his mother said.

They live in two rooms, with a shared bathroom, on the first floor of a shared living space in northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad area.

There is not one day that goes by that Shahana does not relive those minutes. What if she had given him food when he asked? What if the timing was a few minutes before or after namaz? These are some questions that nag her.

He was referring to the anti-CAA protesters who had moved from the Seelampur protest site to under the Jaffrabad metro station on the night of 22 February. Crowds had swelled in Jaffrabad as well as in Maujpur, which is a Hindu-dominated area where pro-CAA protesters had gathered. The Quint, which was present on ground zero then, heard pro-CAA slogans and saw several flags of various right-wing groups, including the RSS, at the spot.

Unaware of these developments, Shahana was offering namaz. Which was disrupted due to some noise. “Aadmi chad gaye hai aurton ko maarne ke liye (the men have come ahead to attack the women),” she heard. All the boys then ran towards the Maujpur-Jaffrabad road, including her son, Shahrukh.

Shahrukh’s father, 65-year-old Samar Ali who is over 6 feet tall and a Sikh who converted to Islam, says that his son got caught in a crowd.

“We asked the boys who went with him to tell us what happened. They said that while they were able to run back, Shahrukh had got stuck in a crowd where he had to fend for himself. There were all kinds of people there,” Ali, who is originally from Amritsar, said in a heavy Punjabi accent.

He had surgery on his left leg a few months before the 2020 riots and has needed another to replace the right knee for a long time.

Later Shahrukh told them how he got his hands on the pistol.

His parents believe that it was the work of Allah that his son could survive this ordeal despite being caught in an extremely violent crowd.

“My son must have saved so many lives, of woman and others. Kept the Hindu mob from entering more homes, vandalising mosques. If he did not have the pistol in his hand, there is a good chance he could have died himself too,” Shahana tells this reporter.

Shahana says that Shahrukh had peanuts in his hand, in a conical-shaped container made of newspapers, when he said to his mother, “Chammo, kaisi bethi hai tu? (Mother, why are you sitting like this).”

The lives and the fate of the family had already changed, but Shahrukh was unaware. Soon his eyes fell on the television news that his mother, and other guests who had come to visit, were watching.

“Ye kya kiya tune beta, ye kyu kiya (What did you do, son. Why did you do it?),” she asked repeatedly.

Shahrukh went into shock, his face fell and so did the peanuts he was eating. He spent the next few minutes, telling his mother, who he was closest to, that he never wanted to hurt anyone. “I was doing that so the men from the other side would go back and stop stone pelting, abusing and hurting us. I did not hurt the police constable. I told him, ‘aap hat jao uncle, main idhar chala rahaan hoon. (you move on the side uncle, I am aiming the pistol elsewhere).”

The constable who faced Shahrukh with only a stick in his hand, Deepak Dahiya, told multiple news channels that Shahrukh had not fired at him. “The boy looked young and good and educated. He could have made something of his life, but he did this,” Dahiya says.

The deed was already done. The family did not have much time to talk to each other. Shahrukh fled soon after. The entire day Ali and Shahana lived in fear every time they heard the roar of slogans. The next day they packed their clothes and left for a relative’s home. They feared being arrested or being killed. Their fears were not unfounded.

Chants of Jai Sri Ram were reverberating in the streets. Everyone knew the name and address of the man who had brandished the gun in front of the policemen by now. “Earlier they thought his name was Anurag, so the Hindus were celebrating his confidence and bravado. When they got to know he was a Muslim, the abuses began,” his parents tell this reporter together, talking over each other.

By now Shahrukh’s closest friend for at least 17 years, Shubham Thakur, had returned from Lucknow.

When this reporter asked if it was possible to meet him, Thakur came promptly upon being called by the family.

“I was in Lucknow on business. I returned on 26 February and saw Shahrukh’s home was locked. A mob came with the intention of burning his home,” 25-year-old Thakur, who also has a preoccupation with good clothes, hair and looks, said.

The mob said:

“Let’s set his home on fire.”

“Shahrukh lives here, that Pathan lives here.”

“Burn it up!”

Shubham, whose home is behind Shahrukh’s, went right up to the crowd and asked them what their problem was. “I told them that they were outsiders, who would do damage and leave. But we had to live here. By then Muslims from the locality had come and were folding their hands in front of the mob,” he recalled the utter helplessness on their faces.

Shubham, says that when he was involved in a legal issue, and was away from home, Shahrukh fulfilled the role of a son for his parents. So it was not unnatural for him to stand infront of a mob.

While this happened, Shahrukh was still on the run.

His cousin brother, Akhlad Khan, told The Quint about where he was for those eight days.

“He was in Delhi for a few days, he was in his car. Then he went to Punjab, where his paternal relatives stay. After that, he went to Bareilly, to his maternal cousin’s place. By then the police had tracked his location as he was under surveillance. He was caught at the bus stand in west Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli on 3 March. After which he was brought to Daryaganj police station on the same day.”

Akhlad, who is based out of Moradabad in UP, works as a freelance journalist and does content writing too.

He told this reporter, how through informal chats, the family was assured repeatedly that Shahrukh would not be killed in an encounter or tortured in custody. “There was a lot of news going around that he was already arrested, or that he was killed in an encounter. We were very worried that they would kill him as the craze around him was as such then. But the policemen stuck to their word,” Akhlad said.

Both parents were still petrified that they could be arrested. His mother could barely hold back her tears. With a heavy heart and on her toes, she struggled to look above the crowd ahead of her to catch a glimpse of her son. “He loved me the most. He was always joking around with me. He is so innocent; I cannot tell you. His main interests were looking sharp and and troubling me. That is it,” she said. Ali, who is over six feet tall, could not get a glimpse of their son either.

Both were feeling dejected and hopeless. Unaware of what lies ahead for the only child who was looking after them.

“I spotted a policeman a few feet away from us,” Shahana says. She went up to him without thinking much, driven by emotion, with Ali tottering behind her with a walking stick, and told him, “Don’t hit the boy too much, he is only a child.”

The parents said that while making this request to an unknown policeman. They consciously tried to not come across as his parents. “We spoke to him like we were like any other neighbour or well-wisher of Shahrukh,” Shahana says.

Over the next few months, they finally got to return to their home once things settled. They also got to see their son after he was sent to jail.

In front of his mother, Shahrukh jokes around. He asks her how he is looking so he could get compliments from her, a ritual from when being in jail was not a thought in anyone’s mind. With his father, he is more honest. Ali asks him to remain calm and repose his faith in Allah.

From being a gym enthusiast, who was well built, Shahrukh has lost considerable weight. However his preoccupation with looks continues in jail. When he has appearances in court, he thinks of what to wear and asks his parents, and his cousin brother Akhlad, to bring it for him.

“Earlier he also used to be in better spirits, now he is always anxious and keeps asking us to bring him out,” Shahana says.

Both thank God for ensuring his son survived the ordeal of 24 February. “From getting the pistol, not hiding his face, protecting other people, dispersing crowds, and returning safely. We thank Allah for taking care of him. When he thinks the time is right, my son will be out of jail,” Ali said.

Akhlad told us, how when some UAPA accused from FIR 59 got bail, there were slogans raised for various accused outside Tihar jail, the same jail Shahrukh has been kept in. “But no one raised a slogan for Shahrukh. There were slogans for Sharjeel Imam, Umar Khalid but not Shahrukh…. so there was a sense of being alienated and ignored by the other accused of the Delhi riots. I told one of those activists how offended I was that you have not included Shahrukh’s name and given him the cold shoulder. They said that was what their lawyers had told him,” Akhlad said betraying a sense of abandonment.

“What do they mean the lawyers told them? Is holding a gun up for self-defense a crime that differentiates UAPA accused from Shahrukh,” Akhlad scoffed. He as well as the police has said that Shahrukh had no past criminal record.

Shahrukh has two FIRs registered against him. They are FIR 49/2020 and FIR 51/2020, with sections of the Arms Act and Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC.

“While under FIR 49, the arguments have ended and the order is awaited from the judge in a Karkardooma court. In FIR 51, the bail has been dismissed by the sessions and Delhi high court. We have plans to move the Supreme Court soon,” Akhlad said.