RAF personnel firing tear gas shell in Rampur. UP DGP O P Singh denied opening fire on protesters while suggesting that those who died were caught in cross-firing between protesters. (Photo: ANI)
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) Today Live News Updates: The death toll in protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Uttar Pradesh has soared to 15. Over 600 people, the police said, were taken into custody as part of “preventive action”. However, UP DGP O P Singh denied opening fire on protesters, news agency PTI reported, while suggesting that those who died were caught in cross-firing between protesters.
Meanwhile, in UP’s Rampur, clashes broke out between anti-CAA protesters and police in which several people, including policemen, were injured on Saturday, officials told PTI. Also, protesters in Kanpur torched a police post in Yatimkhana area. Stone-pelting and subsequent use of tear gas shells was also reported
Protests against the citizenship law swelled nationwide and there was a pushback from state governments and even its allies, the ruling BJP was heard climbing down on the plan for a pan-India National Register for Citizens. In Delhi, the police have arrested 15 persons in connection with Friday’s Darya Ganj violence where a police vehicle set ablaze and detained five others in connection with the clashes that took place in East Delhi’s Seemapuri area.
At least 45 people, including 13 police officers, were injured as Walled City protests in the national capital that had largely remained peaceful, turned violent on Friday evening.
Police use water cannons to disperse the crowd at Delhi Gate on Friday. (Express photo)
Highlights
Amid nationwide agitations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the Congress, led by party chief Sonia Gandhi, has decided to stage a silent protest at Rajghat on Monday afternoon demanding protection for the Constitution and the rights of people as enshrined in it.
Top leaders of the party including its former president Rahul Gandhi and its General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are likely to participate in the 'satyagrah dharna' till the evening, sources said.
The decision to hold the silent protest was taken at a meeting of top party leaders at Sonia Gandhi's residence here on Saturday evening, they said.
More than one thousand academicians from across India have issued a statement in favour of CAA. They said it was a long pending demand of free India. The list includes academicians from institutes in India and abroad.
Statement in Support of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 by The Indian Express on Scribd
Thousands of left-leaning students marched to BJP headquarters in Kolkata, demanding rollback of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the proposed nationwide NRC, PTI reported. Students from Jadavpur University, Alia University, Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, and Calcutta University took out a rally from Esplanade to Mahajati Sadan. The protesters shouted slogans and held placards which read 'Scrap NRC and CAA' and 'We won't allow fascism to rule in India', as they passed by the BJP's West Bengal headquarters at Muralidhar Lane.
The Press Association Saturday condemned "attack and unnecessary harassment" of journalists during coverage of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, news agency PTI reported. The Association said it said in a statement that it was concerned over incidents of burning of media OB vans during the protests and appealed to all sections to realise the need of a free press and the importance of media during incidents of national importance.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally on Sunday at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, which is a little over a kilometre away from Old Delhi's Daryaganj that was hit by violence on Friday during the protest against the amended Citizenship Act. (PTI)
Curfew was relaxed in Mangaluru on Saturday with the situation in the city whichwas rocked by violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act leaving two dead in police firing, peaceful. The situation in Bengaluru and other parts of the state, where prohibitory orders were in place, was also peaceful with no major protests taking place.
Restrictions on movement were relaxed for brief period on Saturday in parts of Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur city where curfew is in force, the police said. As many as 35 persons have been arrested in connection with Friday's violence, they added.
Areas under four police stations here had witnessed stone pelting during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on Friday, leaving 20 policemen injured. On Saturday, no violent protests were reported in the city or elsewhere in the state, where restrictions on assembly of more than four people are in place in 44 out of 52 districts. (PTI)
Haryana Home minister Anil Vij on Saturday said holding protest is a democratic right but the government will not tolerate the breach of law by anyone. “Holding any protest is a democratic right but it will not be tolerated if anyone is found taking law into his own hands,” Vij said in a Haryana government statement. (PTI)
Amid protests against the new citizenship law and proposed nationwide NRC, a Bangladeshi man has been arrested with fake Aadhaar and Indian voter cards, Government Railway Police (GRP) said here on Saturday. Mohammad Belal, a resident of Tejpur in Sylhet district of Bangladesh, was arrested for travelling aboard the Amritsar-Kolkata Durgiana Express without a ticket, GRP Inspector Harinarayan Singh said.
Amid protests against the new citizenship law and proposed nationwide NRC, a Bangladeshi man has been arrested with fake Aadhaar and Indian voter cards, Government Railway Police (GRP) said here on Saturday. Mohammad Belal, a resident of Tejpur in Sylhet district of Bangladesh, was arrested for travelling aboard the Amritsar-Kolkata Durgiana Express without a ticket, GRP Inspector Harinarayan Singh said. (PTI)
The Tiz Hazari court has dismissed Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad’s bail and has remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody.
All Assam Students Union(AASU) Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal of misleading people that their identity, language and land are secure though Bangladeshis are being settled here through the contentious legislation.
Even as protests continue against the Citizenship Amendment Act across the country, a Gujarat Lok Sabha MP on Saturday handed out citizenship certificates to three members of a Hindu family who came to India from Pakistan seeking refuge over a decade ago. Rajkot Lok Sabha MP Mohan Kundariya handed out the certificates to Harsinh Sodha, Sarupsinh Sodha and Parbatsinh Sodha, who came to India in 2007, at a function held in Vavdi village in Morbi. (PTI)
An incident of scuffle took place in Kolkata. While students' rally was passing through CR Avenue opposite the BJP state headquarters, some students tried to climb up the road divider in a bid reach party office. Policemen on the spot thwarted them from doing so.
Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad has been produced at the Tis Hazari court. Azad has been arrested for “instigating the crowd” at Darya Ganj in Old Delhi where a private car was set ablaze by a massive crowd protesting against the CAA.
Azad’s counsel Mehmood Pracha opposes 14 days of judicial remand and said that he has not instigated the crowd at Jama Masjid.
Anti-citizenship law protestors in Kanpur set Yatimkhana police post on fire on Saturday and indulged in heavy brickbatting, leading to injury to some people, a senior official said. Police had to lob tear gas shells and use canes to chase them away. Fire tenders were rushed to control the flame.ADG (Kanpur) Prem Prakash said RAF has been called out along with 'Vajr' vehicles to control the situation.
Samajwadi Party MLA Amitabh Bajpai and former MLA and SP leader Kamlesh Tewari have been arrested as a precautionary measure and their vehicles have also been seized. Officials said that crowds gathered in areas like Babupurva, Nai Sadak, Moolganj, Dalelpurva and Haleem College, and police in large numbers was deployed to keep a watch over the situation. (PTI)
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday accused the BJP government of using dictatorial measures to suppress the voice of people as she condemned arrest of students, intellectuals, journalists and social workers protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and a possible NRC.
The NRC and the new citizenship law were against the Constitution of India, she said in a statement.
The people of the country would not allow any such attack on the Constitution but the government was bent upon using force and violence against protesters, she added. (PTI)
The death toll in protests soared to 15 in Uttar Pradesh as a child died in a stampede when the crowd of protestors was being dispersed by the police.
Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, arrested for allegedly “instigating the crowd” at Darya Ganj in Old Delhi where a private car was set ablaze by a massive crowd protesting against the CAA has not yet been produced before the Court. Advocate Mehmood Pracha, claiming you be Azad’s counsel, urge the court to ask the police about his whereabouts.
Pracha tells the Dutyb Magistrate that all the accused has been produced but, why Azad has not been brought to court. The counsel contended, the investigating officer should tell, whether Azad has been arrested, dead or alive. The police officer from Daryaganj told the court that he is not aware about Azad’s whereabouts. Other officer tells the court that he has been arrested, taken for medical examination and he will be produced within 24 hours.
Many students, led by the student council and on individual capacity, including some Gold Medalists, who were supposed to receive their degrees from President Ram Nath Kovind have decided to boycott the convocation function of Puducherry Central University on December 23.