Caravan News
LUCKNOW – The Allahabad High Court asked Uttar Pradesh government to submit a report on police brutalities against the anti-CAA protesters by 17 February.
A two-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Siddhartha Verma passed the order hearing a number of public interest litigations. The court asked the state government to mention how many people died during anti-CAA protests and complaints registered against police.
Uttar Pradesh saw over 23 deaths after the protests against the discriminatory citizenship law broke out across many districts of the state last month. Most of these deaths happened due to the police firing.
“How many complaints have been filed against the police or government officials over the crackdown on protesters?” the high court asked the UP government, seeking a detailed report on police action, according to Mehmood Pracha, the lawyer for one of the petitioners.
Manish Goyal, one of the advocates who represented the state government, said five affidavits were filed from the government’s side in Monday’s hearing. “The court wanted some further clarifications from us. We have given details of all the policemen who have sustained gunshot injuries in the violence. We have given a district-wise break-up to the court. The court has asked us for details of all First Information Reports (FIR) filed in the violence and its aftermath”.
An NDTV investigation tried to verify a police claim that 60 of their men had taken bullets from illegal firearms used by the protesters against cops last month. But one officer with a bullet injury was found in western Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act for the first time makes religion the test of citizenship in India. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries to get citizenship if they fled to India because of religious persecution. Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principles of the constitution.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had warned of a “crackdown” on the protesters and the government ordered that those found responsible for damaging public property during the protests would have to pay for it.
