'Launching a blistering attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, BJP president and Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said that those who had raised "anti-national" slogans at the JNU deserved to be put behind bars. Questioning whether Gandhi and Kejriwal are "cousin brothers" of the "tukde tukde sloganeers", Shah told a public meeting that whosoever speaks against the country will be jailed. "In JNU, some boys had raised anti-national slogans.
'Cordon and search operations are a known military tactic, employed by the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir as part of counter-terror operations. A cursory scan of news reports from Jammu and Kashmir reveals that such operations were suspended in the erstwhile state for around 15 years due to opposition from the public, only to be reinstated in 2017. A version of this tactic, albeit a scaled-down version, became a 'routine' operation in Telangana from back in 2015... A version of this tactic — albeit scaled-down — became a 'routine' operation in Telangana from back in 2015.
'On December 19, 2019, when Mangaluru police began dispersing protesters agitating against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), a video clip of a man clutching his three-year-old daughter and jostling with the police was shared widely on social media. The man was resisting the attempts of the police to drag him and his daughter towards a bus parked nearby. The child is seen screaming while her elder sister and mother are also seen in the video clip appealing to the police to let them go...
'...As law students, it was extremely disturbing for us when we realized that “halting of riots” has been made a prerequisite by you for entertaining the pleas pertaining to the violent clamp down on the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act throughout the country. In the legendary history of this Hon’ble Court, this is the first time that the plight of the fundamental rights of the people is being heard on a “conditional” basis.
'Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Uttar Pradesh's Barkhera constituency Kishan Lal Rajpoot, along with his 15 identified and more than 35 unidentified supporters, have been booked for allegedly beating a police constable with shoes at a police post and robbing him of a gold chain and wallet... Gurjar said: "When I reached the spot, they abused and thrashed me. They opened fire at me and I had a narrow escape.
'On 20 December, a day after the Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath vowed to “take revenge” against those who had destroyed property during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the state police stormed Muzaffarnagar. That day and night, Mehmood Nagar and Khalapar—both Muslim-majority neighbourhoods in the city—descended into violence, with a rampage by the UP police. According to residents, the police force used tear gas, lathi charges, and opened fire on the Muslim locals. Noor Mohammad, a young resident of Khalapar, was shot in the head and died.
'The clampdown of the Uttar Pradesh police against the Muslim community has now extended to those who have not taken part in the ongoing protests. In three villages located less than 30 km from Lucknow, at least 100 Muslim men have been made to furnish a bond of Rs 50,000 each under Section 107/116 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which virtually serves as an assurance that they will not participate in any protest. They will have to appear in court every fortnight or so for at least the next six months.
'...On 23 December, I visited Nehtaur, met the two families whose relatives were killed, visited the place where the police claimed the protestors had pelted stones at them and spoke to several eyewitnesses who were present there at the time. The residents said there had been no protest. They told me that they had only stepped out of their homes to attend the Friday prayers.
'In UP, Muslims have been picked up en masse from all over,thrashed, their homes barged into, properties confiscated & met with live fire on streets. And no one will be prosecuted because it is being done by the State. UP is already Hindu Rashtra. A thread on chilling reports(1/n)...'
'Significant damage to a Muslim area in the Muzaffarnagar town of Western Uttar Pradesh is visible in a video accessed by Scroll.in that was shot after violence on Friday in the wake of protests around the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens... Shot at around 6 pm on Friday, the video show burnt shops and a mosque on the Roorkee-Meerut Road. It also shows four cars of Congressman and former MP Saiduzzaman gutted by the mob. Saiduzzaman’s son Salman Sayeed blamed the police as well as people he associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for the violence.
