Over 300 served notice for damaging public property

LUCKNOW: Days after UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath asserted that protesters who vandalised public property during demonstrations against the Citizenship Amendment Act will have to pay for the damage to public property caused by them, district administrations across the state have served showcause notices to over 300 people.

Identified from CCTV and other video footages of violence, the accused have been asked to explain why their assets should not be attached to compensate for the loss to public property. If those issued notices are unable to explain that they were not responsible for the damages, they will have to pay.

The Lucknow district administration has served notices to 100 people till now. “They have been given seven days’ time to prove their innocence,” Abhishek Prakash, district magistrate Lucknow said, adding that the entire process will be completed in 30 days after which property attachment will begin.

Likewise in Rampur, notices have been issued to 28 people who have been identified for violence during the protests. Authorities pegged the worth of damage to property at Rs 25 lakh here. In Meerut, the worth of damage to property was assessed to be at Rs 14 lakh and investigations blamed 141 people for it. In Gorakhpur, police have sent notices to 33 people allegedly involved in violence during the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protest. Recovery notices were also served in Sambhal and Bijnor districts where the worth of damage to public property was pegged at Rs 15 lakh and Rs 19.7 lakh respectively.

Police have pasted the pictures of people involved in violence and announced that the informers will be awarded. So far 26 people have been sent to jail and several others have been picked up based on police photos.