875 people held across UP, govt blames ‘outsiders’ for violence
State begins process to zero in on those who damaged public property; deputy CM points to ‘PFI, SIMI involvement’
LUCKNOW/KANPUR/BIJNOR: There were reports of fresh protests and crowd build-up in at least three Uttar Pradesh districts — Muzaffarnagar, Hapur and Saharanpur — on Sunday,but timely intervention by the police ensured that there was no violence, an official said.
While mobile internet services were restored in Aligarh after a week, restrictions continued in at least 14 districts, namely Lucknow, Saharanpur, Meerut, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Bareilly, Mau, Sambhal, Azamgarh, Agra, Kanpur, Unnao and Moradabad.
Praveen Kumar, inspector general (IG) of police, law and order, said, “No violence was reported from any district and the situation remained normal all throughout Sunday. Some stray incidents were reported but alert police personnel contained them well in time.”
He said the deployment of police and paramilitary forces continued in all the violence-hit districts. “District police officials have been directed to hold meetings with public and leaders of various groups to ensure peace and harmony,” said Kumar.
He said the police were cracking down on trouble-mongers and arrested several people after identifying them from video footage and the photographs available with the police, the media and the general public.
“As many as 875 hooligans have been arrested in connection with 164 FIRs registered in the state since Thursday. Besides, preventive action has been taken against 5,312 people,” he added.
The UP government began the process of identifying the people who damaged public property during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act even as the Lucknow district administration formed a four-member panel to assess the damage.
The additional district magistrate (east) has been made the in-charge of assessing the damage to property in eastern part of the city, Lucknow district magistrate Abhishek Prakash told news agency PTI. Similarly, the additional district magistrate (west) and additional district magistrate (trans-Gomti) have been assigned the task of evaluating the loss in their areas. Additional district magistrate (administration) has been given the task for the rural areas, Prakash said.
The action comes days after chief minister Yogi Adityanath said properties of all those involved in violence would be confiscated to offset the damage.
Protests against CAA have broken out in several districts leaving at least 19 people dead in the state. One person died in Kanpur on Sunday due to bullet injuries he suffered in an anti-CAA protest on Friday.
CAA seeks to fast-track citizenship for persecuted minority Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Jain, Buddhists and Parsis from three neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have taken refuge in India before 2015.
The state government has blamed “outsiders” for the violence.
Officials said six people from West Bengal, who they said were associated with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were arrested on Sunday.
Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma alleged “outisders’ role” in the incidents of violence. He said the protesters used illegal firearms. “There is involvement of Popular Front of India. They have connection with SIMI. Six people from Malda have been arrested,” he said.
Sharma told reporters that as many as 288 police personnel sustained injuries, of which 62 were due to firearms, during the violent protests. “About 500 empty cartridges of prohibited bore have been found. This indicates that the protestors were using illegal weapons,” he said.
Sharma’s remarks came on the day a purported video showing a policeman opening fire surfaced in Kanpur.
Inspector general of police (Kanpur Range) Mohit Agarwal, however, denied that there was any firing by the police. “The police only used lathicharge and tear gas shells. They did not fire. The cop seen in the video with a pistol might have just pointed to scare the protesters,” Agarwal said. On the sound of the gunshot, Agarwal said: “It could have been some other surrounding sound.”
At his press conference, deputy CM Sharma also accused the opposition Samajwadi Party of fomenting trouble. “The opposition is inciting people by making false statements,” he said.
Earlier in the day, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav attacked the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging that the new citizenship law has been brought in to “divert the attention” from the “virtually destroyed” economy.
Meanwhile, state authorities stopped a delegation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) at the Lucknow airport when it was heading to meet the families of those killed in the violence.
One of the detained TMC leaders, Nadimul Haque, who is also a member of Parliament, told news agency PTI, “We have been detained at Lucknow airport. As soon as we got down from the aircraft, we were surrounded by police and were taken by the police to a secluded spot on the runway. We are staging a dharna near a hangar.”
In a related development, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra visited Bijnor on Sunday where she met families of two persons killed in the violence. Local Congress leaders said she visited Nahtaur area to meet families of the two persons .