Rickshaw-puller, who tried to stop Jama Masjid attackers, gets no customers a day after the incident

'Media focus ruined me'

Rickshaw-puller, who tried to stop Jama Masjid attackers, gets no customers a day after the incident

No country for brave men: Saleem Ahmed hasn't got any customers
ever since he hurled stones at the fleeing bikers who opened fire at
Taiwanese nationals, injuring two of them. Saleem claims people are
scared to board his rickshaw. Pic/Subhash Barolia

Showing exemplary courage and not even caring about the guns that the attackers held, Saleem tried to stop them from fleeing. He hurled stones at them while a constable posted at the Jama Masjid gate gave them a futile chase.

His story was flashed across news channels and the newspapers splashed him on front pages. He was the hero of the hour. But that was on Sunday. On Monday morning when Saleem took his rickshaw out from the stand near Jama Masjid and went to the streets, he was in for a rude shock.
No one was interested in taking a ride on his rickshaw for fear of being 'targeted'.

"I had no customers till afternoon. While my friends kept getting patrons, nobody came to me. I was shocked. Probably they knew me from the TV footage and thought that as I was an eye-witness, the 'terrorists' would target me," Saleem told MiD DAY.

By around 1 pm he had not earned even a penny. "I was shocked. I had no money to buy lunch. I was hungry and was thinking what was it that I did wrong. I just tried to help the police. And is this how I had to pay for showing courage," asked Saleem, breaking into tears.

The rickshaw puller, who earns Rs 150-200 per day, said media exposure spoiled it all for him. "I think too much media focus made me a villain, instead of a hero. I don't aspire to become a hero. I am just a common man who tried to help, but I didn't not I would have pay such a heave price," said Saleem.

Saleem lives in a rented room in east Delhi's Kalyanpuri area with his wife and two children. A native of Bihar, Saleem said his wife has TB.u00a0 "I have not earned a penny for a day. I have to give Rs 50 to the rickshaw owner each day as rent," he said.

The rickshaw puller said when the bikers struck at gate number 3, he was ferrying two foreigners to Chandni Chowk. But as soon as he pelted stones at the attackers, his customers got down and refused to go any further with him. "I did not get any customer since then. I don't want to accuse you (the media), but no reporter or photographer asked me whether I had lunch or not. I was used like a model for a photo session," said Saleem.

Saleem had shifted to Delhi at the age of 10. He has been pulling a rickshaw in the Jama Masjid area for the last four years.

Rs 150-200 Income of Saleem per day

SAVIOUR
On Sunday, Saleem had thrown a stone at the attackers which hit the pillion rider on the hand, when he was trying to insert a new magazine into his gun, thus foiling his attempt. Saleem had told reporters that he tried to catch the culprits but by then they had fled from the crime scene. "The pillion rider had worn a green jacket while the person who was driving the bike was in black and was carrying a bag containing fire arms," he said.

FREEWHEEL
The Draft Delhi Cycle Rickshaw Act 2010 being jointly prepared by Delhi's three civic bodies will allow cycle-rickshaws to ply all over the city. This manual mode of public transport had so far been restricted to Delhi's Walled city and a handful of residential colonies.
Except the national highways and Ring Roads and the areas marked by 'No Entry' signs under the Delhi Master Plan 2021, the cycle-rickshaw will become ubiquitous on all arterial roads -- in the 12 zones under the MCD, the Delhi Cantonment Board (DCB), and the NDMC.
Following a recent High Court order, which ruled that the MCD's policy of limiting the number of cycle-rickshaws in the city was unconstitutional, the draft Act proposes that "there shall be no quota limiting the number of cycle-rickshaws that can be registered. These numbers shall be solely determined by the demand, carrying capacity of colony roads and availability of parking space".

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