Aligarh remains calm day after clashes, curbs on net
Oppn walks out of UP assembly, DM warns of NSA against rumour-mongers
ALIGARH/AGRA: Internet services continued to remain suspended for a second day in Aligarh on Monday even as authorities said no untoward incident was reported since Sunday when around a dozen people were injured in violence that coincided with anti-citizenship (Amendment) Act protests in the city.
“No untoward incident has been reported from any place since Sunday evening,” said additional director general of police (Agra zone), Ajay Anand.
District magistrate Chandra Bhushan Singh warned people against spreading rumours. He said such attempts would be dealt with an iron hand and National Security Act, which allows imprisonment without trial, would be invoked in such cases.
Singh, who visited the affected areas along with senior police superintendent Muniraj G, said Internet services will remain suspended till Monday midnight as a precautionary measure.
Anand said they were initiating confidence-building measures with the help of community leaders to help in restoring normalcy in the affected areas, where shops mostly remained shuttered even as authorities were persuading people to open their businesses. He added police were in the process of identifying those involved in the violence.
Anand said Tariq Munawwar, 22, who received gunshot injuries on Sunday, was now stable at Aligarh’s Jawahar Lal Nehru hospital after doctors performed emergency surgery on him. “If necessary, we will shift him to AIIMS [All India Institute of Medical Sciences] New Delhi. Currently, however, doctors are satisfied with his progress.”
The police have lodged eight cases against 50 named and 2,000 unidentified people in connection with the violence. Six FIR have been filed on the basis of complaints of those injured.
“We have deployed sufficient police forces near the protest sites to ensure the security of women protesters. We have also allowed the protesters at Shahjamal Eidgah to set up a temporary tent. The administration will only intervene if anyone attempts to take law in their hands,” he said.
The trouble on Sunday began when police were trying to evict women protestors, who were staging a sit-in at Mohammed Ali Road since Saturday morning. The attempt triggered protests and stone-throwing soon started from the neighbouring areas.
In Lucknow, Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress staged a walkout from the state assembly on Monday against the alleged police atrocities against anti-caa protesters, including women, in Aligarh.
Soon after the House met at 11 am, Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary of the SP demanded a discussion on the issue. He alleged that women were lathi-charged and tear gas shells were fired in Aligarh. Chaudhary and Congress leader Aradhana Misra, who raised the issue through separate notices, alleged the government is crushing the peaceful protests against the CAA.
“Is this the ‘Ram Rajya’ that the government claims. It has been jungle law ever since the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] came to power,” Misra said and added the government is answerable for the police action. The two demanded a judicial probe into the violence.
UP minister Suresh Khanna said the Aligarh violence was a result of rivalry. “When vehicles were damaged and there was anarchy, police stepped in and had to use force,” he said. “The government will unmask those behind these agitations and those patting the backs of protesters. No citizen will have to suffer. It is the attitude of the Opposition which is responsible for it [violence] and nothing will happen if they do not encourage it.”
Expressing dissatisfaction over the minister’s reply, the SP and Congress members staged a walkout.
The passage of the CAA in December to fast-track the citizenship process for non-muslims, who have entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2015, triggered protests across the country.