Anti-CAA protests: PFI refutes allegations of inciting violence in Uttar Pradesh
Rubbishing the allegations of playing a key role in triggering violence during the protests against the amended Citizenship Act, the Popular Front of India (PFI) on Wednesday said the allegations are 'absurd' and are a 'face-saving act' by the Uttar Pradesh police. The development comes a day after the Uttar Pradesh police sent a letter to the state home department seeking a ban on the PFI. The state police had accused the PFI of inciting violence against the CAA.
Earlier, a probe conducted by the Uttar Prdadesh police had found the involvement of PFI in the violent protests against the amended citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Uttar Pradesh head of PFI, Wasim and 16 other activists were arrested for allegedly masterminding the violence in the state capital during anti-CAA protests, UP DGP OP Singh said, clearifying his demand to ban the organisation.
Wasim was arrested for allegedly masterminding the violence, police had said last week.
Meanwhile, the PFI, in a statement said while anti-CAA protests took place all over the country, it was only in the Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states that the government tried to suppress the people's democratic rights to dissent.
"In most of the states the police were respectful of people's democratic rights to dissent. Only in Yogi Adityanath ruled Uttar Pradesh, police brazenly turned protests into bloodbath and destruction," the PFI said.
"We condemn this move, which is nothing but a 'face-saving act'. We would like to tell them that their cold-blooded killings and maiming of innocents and the destruction of properties lay bare to the entire world," it said.
The Yogi Adityanath government has written to the Union home ministry seeking ban on the organisation.
The UP police claims that it has enough evidence to prove that the PFI members were behind the violence during the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests.
The home department of the state government on Monday wrote a letter to the union home ministry and sought a ban on the organisation.
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