Death toll mounts to 16 in UP violence

| | Lucknow
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Death toll mounts to 16 in UP violence

Sunday, 22 December 2019 | PNS | Lucknow

Anti-CAA stir: Fresh clashes in Rampur, Aligarh

The death toll in the clashes during protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act rose to 16 in Uttar Pradesh with reports of stray violence pouring in from several parts on Saturday.

The deceased included an eight-year-old boy.

Meanwhile, internet services, which were suspended in two dozen districts after violence broke out in Thursday, were restored by late Saturday afternoon.

Sources however claimed that the Home department had extended the order on internet restriction till Monday noon in 15 districts, including Lucknow, Saharanpur, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Agra, Aligarh, Bareilly, Mau, Azamgarh, Agra, Sambhal, Kanpur, Unnao, Moradabad, and Prayagraj.

In 12 other districts where internet was stopped, a decision to further restrict the services would be taken by respective district magistrates.

Meanwhile, heavy police force marched through the sensitive areas of the state to instil a sense of faith and confidence among the citizens.

After Friday prayers, protesters had clashed with police at several places in the state and hurled stones and torched vehicles. In some districts, rioters even fired shots in which some innocents lost their lives.

Besides one death in Lucknow on Thursday, four deaths were reported from Meerut, two each from Kanpur, Sambhal and Bijnor and one each from Muzaffarnagar and Varanasi. In Ferozabad too, two bodies were recovered on Friday night.

An eight -year-old boy was killed in a stampede in Varanasi when a violent mob was chased by policemen. In Lucknow too, another victim succumbed to his injuries on Friday evening.

On Saturday, amid a bandh call in Rampur, around 500 protesters, including 12-18 year old children, gathered at some distance from Eidgah and targeted police personnel with stones.

“Five protesters were injured, one of them seriously, during the clash. Around a dozen others suffered injuries due to tear gas shelling, while over a dozen cops were hurt in stone pelting,” Rampur District Magistrate Aunjaneya Singh told media persons.

Singh suspected the involvement of some non-locals in the protest and said that the police did not open fire anywhere yet a protester suffered a gunshot wound.

In Aligarh Muslim University campus also, protests started after a four-day lull. Hundreds of non-teaching staff of AMU joined hands with AMU Teachers’ Association to protest against the CAA and police atrocities against agitators in various parts of the state on Friday.

The police used mild force on Friday evening to disperse the large crowd of protesters at Shahjamal in Delhi Gate police station area of Aligarh.

In Kasganj, internet services were suspended following growing tension, but the police described the situation as under control.

Meanwhile, DGP OP Singh on Saturday maintained that the police did not open fire anywhere in the state and all deaths were due to cross-firing between protesters.

“All deaths reported in the last few days have been due to cross-firing and this will become clear during autopsy. We are clear and transparent in this. If anyone died due to our fire we will conduct a judicial inquiry and take action. But nothing happened from our side,” the DGP told reporters.

“Women and children were used as shields by the protesters. I myself saw women and young girls present during protests at Parivartan Chowk in Lucknow and asked them to go. A child died in a stampede in Varanasi where children were present with the protesters when police lathi-charged them. These children do not know what citizenship is and they were present with stones,” Singh said.

“Of the 75 districts in the state, one-fourth have been affected where thousands collected after namaz and defied the law. We had contacted religious leaders and they had promised that there would be peace but still protesters collected and indulged in violence and at some places they fired with illegal weapons. After this, the police had no option but to resort to lathi-charge and lob tear gas shells to disperse the unruly mob,” the DGP said.

Warning that those who indulged in violence would not be let off, Singh said that innocents had nothing to worry as arrests would be done only after proper enquiry.

Noting that there was a role of “outsiders” in the violence across UP, the DGP said that members of political parties and from non-governmental organisations could also be present in the protests.

Asked about the possibility of the role of Bangladeshi nationals, the DGP said that investigations were on and the police were probing every angle.

“So far 218 people have been arrested in Lucknow. Police have been patrolling sensitive areas and prominent persons in all districts have been contacted for seeking help in maintaining law and order,” the DGP said.

Meanwhile, IG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar said on Saturday that 124 cases were registered across the state so far, 705 accused were arrested while 4,500 persons were detained.

He said that 263 policemen were injured in the violence out of which 57 had fire-arm injuries. Besides, he said, action was taken against 13,000 objectionable social media posts, 63 cases were registered and 102 persons were arrested.

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