Internet services suspended in Uttar Pradesh; security tightened
Amid the ongoing protests against the contentious citizenship law, authorities in Uttar Pradesh suspended the internet services of several regions and cities of the state on Thursday. According to police officials and administration, internet services have been suspended in Lucknow, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Muzaffarnagar, Bulandshahr and Shamli. The same will be resumed on Friday evening, they said. In Ghaziabad, internet services have been snapped from 10 pm (December 26) to 10 pm (December 27).
According to an early morning notification, mobile Internet services and SMS messages of all mobile service providers except BSNL, will remain suspended in Lucknow on Friday.
In Agra, internet services will be suspended from 8 am till 6 pm on Friday, Additional Superintendent of Police, Ravi Kumar said. In Bulandshahr, the services were shut at 5 pm on Thursday and will be resumed on Saturday morning, Senior Superintendent of Police Santosh Singh said.
Meanwhile, police and administration in all these districts and elsewhere in the region are on alert.
Paramilitary forces, drones to be deployed to tighten security in Uttar Pradesh
Police officials carried out flag march and reached out to community leaders and citizens, interacting with them and distributing pamphlets in a bid to quell any misconceptions about the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. Security was beefed up and patrolling intensified in Uttar Pradesh to ensure peace ahead of the Friday prayers, keeping in mind the widespread violence that hit the state last week during protests against the amended citizenship law.
To avoid a repeat of last Friday's violence in Gorakhpur, police staged a flag march in sensitive areas and held a meeting with peace committees in all circle and police station areas.
Paramilitary force personnel and state police force will be deployed and drone cameras will be used to ensure security on Friday, DM Vijyendra Pandiyan said.
Meanwhile, the process to confiscate the property of those involved in damaging public assets during the protests gained momentum with 372 people being served notices in different districts.
A home department spokesperson on Thursday put the death toll at 19 in the violence last week, which left 288 policemen injured, including 61 who received firearm injury.
He said 327 FIRs have been registered and 5,558 preventive arrests made.
Official sources said more district administrations issued notices to people to make them pay for the losses caused by them in arson and stone-pelting.
The maximum 200 notices were issued in Moradabad followed by 110 in Lucknow, 34 in Gorakhpur and 29 in Firozabad, an official spokesman said.
In the entire state 1,113 persons have been arrested for their alleged involvement in violence.
A report from Sambhal said the district administration has issued notices to 26 people for their alleged involvement in damaging properties during protests against the amended citizenship law, asking them to explain their position or pay for the losses.
Sambhal Superintendent of Police Yamuna Prasad said posters of 150 people have been released and 55 have been identified for their involvement in violent protests. A preliminary probe in anti-CAA violence in Kanpur suggested the role of Bangladeshis and Kashmiris, police said.
"Police investigation has revealed that violence during the protests against CAA on two consecutive days on Friday and Saturday in Kanpur happened in an organised manner," Kanpur SSP Anand Deo Tiwari said.
"Preliminary probe suggested the involvement of people including Bangladeshis and Kashmiris," he said, adding there was "ample evidence" to strongly indicate their involvement.
Some 1,200 unidentified persons, including students, teachers and non-teaching staff of the Aligarh Muslim University, have been booked for alleged violation of prohibitory orders under CrPC section 144 by taking out a candle-light march on Tuesday.
The march was taken out as a mark of protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and express solidarity with those who lost their lives during the stir against the contentious law.
Alleging the BJP government was "afraid" of Hindu-Muslim unity, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav sought to know when a probe into "police brutality" on protesters in the state will be ordered.
"The government is afraid of Hindu-Muslim unity. It is making allegations that people are criminals. It wants to confiscate the property of the poor. It is commenting on people's dress...Threatening to take revenge from citizens. But the government should tell (people) when will it initiate a probe into police brutality," Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.
Also on Thursday, the Uttar Pradesh Shia Central Waqf Board said Indian Muslims do not have any threat from the National Register of Citizens.
"Hindustani Muslims do not have any threat from NRC. It should be implemented in the country. The real matter is of identification of intruders, who are real threat to the country," its Chairman Waseem Rizvi said.
An Uttar Pradesh minister on a visit to Bijnor refused to meet the families of the two Muslim men who died in the recent protests against the new citizenship law, terming them "upadravi" (vandals).
"Why should I go to vandals' place? How can those who are involved in vandalism and put the entire country and state in arson be social," minister Kapil Dev Agarwal posed, defending his decision to not visit the homes of the two Muslim families.
"Why should I visit those who want to put Nahtaur/Bijnor in flames?" the minister in-charge of the district shot back when asked by reporters to justify his decision.
Agarwal, the vocational education and skill development minister in the Yogi Adityanath government, did meet Om Raj Saini, who was injured in the violence that hit the district's Nehtaur area, and his family.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday met the families of those dead in the violence in Bijnor.
When a media person confronted the UP minister by asking him specifically whether it did not amount to discrimination, Agarwal retorted saying, "Why should I go to the homes of vandals? Listen to me. Those who are doing vandalism and want to inflame passions, how are they part of society. Why should I go there? This is not about Hindu-Muslim. Why should I go to vandals?"
A report from Varanasi said 51 professors of the Banaras Hindu University and its affiliated colleges have started a signature campaign to lodge their protest against the arrest of some BHU students who were staging a peaceful protest against CAA and NRC in the city.
Violent protests had unfolded in parts of Uttar Pradesh last Friday, leaving at least 19 people dead and dozens, including policemen, injured.
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