CAA: 87 firing incidents during police-protester clashes
By Newsmeter Network Published on 12 Jan 2020 10:40 AM GMT
Highlights
- UP – 14 alleged brutality, 9 firings, 7 property damage and 5 lathi-charge incidents
- Delhi – 11 alleged brutality, 2 property damage, 1 firing and lathi-charge incidents
- Uttarakhand – 6 alleged brutality, 1 firing and lathi-charge incidents
Hyderabad: A wave of violent protests against the CAA that was triggered by the police action at Jamia Millia University saw 87 incidents of firing, lathi charge, property damage and alleged police brutality, according to data collated through crowdsourcing. The actual instances of clashes could be much higher as many have gone unreported.
Following the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre, thousands of people across cities have poured into the streets against what they called legislation driven by religion.
As per an independent analysis by a group, Uttar Pradesh saw the most number of alleged brutalities, firing, property damage and lathi charge during anti-CAA protests. Fourteen of the 41 alleged brutalities took place in different cities of UP. Nine of 16 cases of firing, five of 12 episodes of alleged lathi charges and seven of 18 instances of property damage happened in the state. The victims of these events were not restricted to a particular school of thought.
According to reports, the incidents ranged from the targeting of journalists to innocents losing their lives.
There are reports of cops picking up Omar Rashid, a correspondent of The Hindu, and threatening him before letting him go.
The police allegedly harassed women and vandalised houses of Dalits. In Lucknow, former teacher and UP Congress media spokesman, Sadaf Jabeen, was arrested for alleged violence.
During anti-CAA protests, a constable in Bijnor district shot Mohammad Suleman, a UPSC aspirant, and Anas, the father of an 8 months old, was killed in police-public firing when he was going to fetch milk.
There were also reports that the police allegedly tortured five minors for 48 hours.
Ahmad Raza Khan, a student at the University of Khwaja Moinuddin, was expelled for writing an anti-CAA post on social media.
Few students lost hands due to an explosion of a teargas shell lobbed by the police at Aligarh Muslim University.
