Death Toll Touches 22 in India as Protests Continue

At least 16 people have died in violence in India's Uttar Pradesh state since the protests against a controversial new citizenship law erupted last week, police said Saturday. The latest figure raises the overall death toll across the country to 22.

At the center of the unrest is the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was passed into law last week. The law promises to fast-track citizenship for non-Muslim religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who arrived in India before 2015.

People have taken to the streets across India in response to the new rules, which was passed into law last week, despite a ban on public gatherings in various regions now in place.

Following Thursday's violence, police in Uttar Pradesh have enforced a law banning public gatherings of four or more people for the next 15 days.

The colonial-era restrictions -- known as Section 144 -- were going to be imposed across the entire state, Avnish Awasthi, senior official in the Uttar Pradesh Home Department, told CNN.

Internet services in the state capital Lucknow will also remain suspended until Saturday evening, after protesters set fire to buildings and clashed with police on Thursday.

"Yesterday, internet connectivity in 73 districts was shut down," Awasthi said. "For the rest of the districts in the states, district officials are making individual decisions."

In the capital New Delhi, section 144 remained in place in three key protest areas Friday, police said.

More than 260 police personnel have been injured in the violence and arson in the state, Praveen Kumar, inspector general of Uttar Pradesh Police, said in a news conference.

Fresh incidents of violence were reported from towns in Uttar Pradesh, while a bandh called by the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar affected road and rail traffic.

Protests in West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya, Maharashtra and the national capital were peaceful. Chennai continued to witness protests, with activists from several students’ organisations, including the Students Federation of India (SFI) and the Untouchablity Eradication Front, clashing with the police at the Dr. Puratchi Thalaivar MGR Central Railway Station.

A 25-year-old youth died and several people were injured in clashes between protesters and the police in Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, officials said. Many persons were injured in Kanpur, after protesters set the Yatimkhana police post on fire and threw stones at the police. Over 260 policemen were also injured, of whom 57 received gunshot wounds, IG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar told PTI.

The Uttar Pradesh police maintained that it did not open fire at protesters anywhere on Friday or Saturday, and firing came from agitators. “All the deaths that took place have been in crossfire, and this will become clear in the post-mortem examination,” DGP O.P. Singh told reporters. “Women and children were used as shields by the protesters,” he alleged. “If anyone died in our fire, we will conduct a judicial inquiry and take action. But nothing happened from our side,” he said.

Internet services remain suspended in many parts of Uttar Pradesh. In Patna and several other towns of Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supporters picketed rail and bus stations and blocked roads.

While the BJP has announced a nationwide campaign to drum up support for the law, the Congress vowed to keep up the momentum of protests and announced a silent dharna at Rajghat for Monday.

As the BJP signalled that it would brazen out the protests, its ally, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), called for bringing Muslims under the purview of the CAA and put a lid on the controversy. Party president and former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said, “We strongly feel that the Muslim community should be included in it [the CAA].”

The law fast-tracks citizenship for followers of six religions if they have fled from persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and excludes Muslims.

A seeming sense of calm enveloped the National Capital a day after sporadic bursts of violence and confrontation between anti-CAA protesters and police were reported from Daryaganj — the gateway to Lutyens’ Delhi from the old Walled City here. Shops reopened around the vicinity of Jama Masjid and Daryaganj hours after stone pelting, baton charges and the use of water cannons by police personnel to control a crowd which set fire to a vehicle outside the local police station. Students and local residents gathered at the Jamia Milia Islamia for the sixth consecutive day to condemn alleged police violence against them last Sunday in addition to  protests against CAA and the NRC.

In Karnataka, the BJP government denied permission to former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to travel to Mangaluru which remains under curfew since Thursday when three people were killed in police firing. The Congress leader termed the government action a “murder of democracy” and “undeclared emergency.”

In Chennai, activists from the Students Federation of India (SFI), Democratic Youth Federation of India, Untouchablity Eradication Front and others gathered near the main Dr. Puratchi Thalaivar MGR Central Railway Station and proceeded towards the platforms to conduct a rail roko. But they were prevented from moving onto the platforms by the police, leading to a scuffle. Around 300 people courted arrest.

AMU witnesses protests

After a lull of four days, the Aligarh Muslim University campus again witnessed protests on Saturday with hundreds of non-teaching staff joining hands with teachers’ association to oppose the CAA and police action against students.

The AMU has set up a one-man judicial panel to conduct an internal inquiry into violent incidents that took place on the campus on December 15 and 16.

Police said at least 15 people, including an eight-year-old boy, lost their lives in the state since Thursday in the state. Massive demonstrations were held after Friday prayers as protesters clashed with police at several places in the state and hurled stones and torched vehicles.

Clashes reported

Clashes with police were reported after Friday prayers from Bhadohi, Bahraich, Amroha, Farurukhabad, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Hapur, Hathras, Bulandshahr, Hamirpur and Mahoba districts and cases have been registered.

Internet had been suspended in major cities, including Lucknow.

In Bihar, carrying bamboo sticks and party flags, supporters of bandh called by RJD against the amended Citizenship Act gathered at bus stands, railway tracks and other vantage points in all districts of the state since the crack of dawn, unfazed by the winter fog and chilly winds.

They squatted on railway tracks, disrupting train movement, and blocked bus terminuses at various places to enforce the day-long bandh.

The protesters also smashed windshields of taxis and three-wheelers and damaged cycle-rickshaws that plied on the roads in defiance of the call for the shutdown at the towns of Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and outskirts of Patna.

Tejashwi Yadav, leader of the opposition in the State Assembly and heir apparent of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, marched in a large procession from the party office in Bir Chand Patel Marg here to Dak Bungalow crossing, throwing traffic on the busy Fraser Road and Bailey Road out of gear.

At some places in Patna, workers of the RJD, known for their strong arm tactics to enforce bandhs, presented people with roses and urged them with folded hands to support the shutdown in “national interest“.

The shutdown, which came two days after a bandh was called on the same issue by Left parties, is being supported by other constituents of the Grand Alliance like the Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP).

Train services affected

Movement of at least seven trains was affected for periods ranging from 30 minutes to over an hour at various stations, the East Central Railway, headquartered at Hajipur in the state, said in a statement.

In Muzaffarpur, the largest north Bihar town, RJD and Congress leaders sat on highways, major road and railway crossings to enforce the bandh. At places like Brahmpura, they clashed with shopkeepers who were reluctant to down their shutters.

Reports of the bandh disrupting normal business and vehicular traffic have been received from districts like Munger, Bhagalpur, Begusarai, Jehanabad and Nawada as well. Bandh supporters clashed with police in Arrah.

In Meghalaya, curfew imposed in Sadar and Lumdiengjri police station limits in Shillong was relaxed for 16 hours from 5 am on Saturday and no untoward incident was reported in these areas in the past 24 hours, East Khasi Hills District Magistrate M W Nongbri said.

Peacful protest in Assam

Protesters took out peaceful rallies in Assam against the amended Citizenship Act at various places, police said.

The curfew imposed in Dibrugarh following violent protests against the Act was relaxed for 16 hours since 6 am on Saturday as the law and order situation improved, they said.

Mobile internet services were restored on Friday in Assam after nine days of its suspension while broadband services had resumed on December 18.

According to sources, the West Bengal police have stepped up vigil and beefed up security arrangements in various parts of the state in order to prevent any untoward incident.

The state had witnessed violence and arson from December 13 to 17 during protests against the new citizenship law. More than 600 people have been arrested so far for their alleged involvement in arson and violence in the state, police said.

Senior Congress leaders including Ramesh Chennithala, Mullappally Ramachandran, Shashi Tharoor, Benny Behanan and M M Hassan participated in anti-CAA protests held in all district headquarters of Kerala.

In some places including Kochi, Wayanad and Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram the workers tried to break the police barricades and enter central government institutions, leading to minor scuffles with police personnel.

“It is a fight against authoritarianism and fascism. The government is using brute force to silence the people who are on the streets against the law meant to divide the people of the country on religious lines,” Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Chennithala alleged while addressing the protesters.

Six people detained

Six people, including CPI Rajya Sabha MP from Kerala Binoy Viswam were detained when they staged a protest in the city against the CAA defying curfew.

Police have restricted the entry of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Mangaluru during the period of curfew.

Meanwhile, as many as 1,100 academicians and research scholars from various universities across India and abroad as well as prominent persons released a statement in support of the amended Citizenship Act.

The signatories to the statement include Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta, Shishir Bajoria, Chairman, IIM Shillong, Sunaina Singh, Vice Chancellor, Nalanda University and JNU professor Ainul Hasan, Abhijit Iyer-Mitra.