Police post torched in Kanpur, 57 cops receive gunshot injuries; internet curbs extended in 15 dists till Monday
The death toll in continuing clashes during protests in Uttar Pradesh against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) rose to 15, including an eight-year-old, on Saturday even as violence erupted in Rampur and Kanpur.
The Yogi Adityanath Government, for its part, initiated the process of identifying those guilty of damaging public property in Lucknow and tasked four Upper District Magistrates with the disposal of cases related to the losses.
UP DGP, OP Singh, reiterated that the police did not open fire anywhere in the State and claimed all deaths were due to cross-firing between the protesters. “Women and children were used as shields by the protesters. If anyone died due to our fire we will conduct a judicial enquiry and take action. But nothing happened from our side,” the DGP said.
IG (Law and Order) Praveen Kumar said over 260 policemen were also injured, of whom 57 received gunshot wounds. “Since December 10, when the protests erupted in the State, 705 people have been arrested and around 4,500 persons were released after preventive arrest. Fifteen casualties have happened,” he said.
Politics over the CAA, however, continued with the Trinamool Congress announcing the visit of a four-member party delegation to meet the families of those who were killed in violence that broke out during the protest in Lucknow.
The Home Department extended internet restrictions till Monday noon in 15 districts of 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.
The bandobast and UP CM’s renewed appeal for peace notwithstanding, protesters set ablaze Yatimkhana police post in Kanpur and indulged in heavy brick-batting, leading to injuries to many people including policemen. Police used canecharge and tear gas to chase them away. Clashes were also reported from Rampur district.
Samajwadi Party MLA Amitabh Bajpai and former MLA and SP leader Kamlesh Tewari have been arrested as a precautionary measure and their vehicles have also been seized. On the composition of protesters, the UP DGP said, “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.”
“Of the 75 districts in the State, one-fourth has 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 gathered 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 innocents have nothing to worry as arrests would be done only after proper enquiry.
Noting that there is a role of ‘outsiders’ in the violence across UP, the DGP said members of political parties and NGOs were also be present in the protests. Asked about the possibility of the role of Bangladeshi nationals, Singh said investigations were on and the police was probing every angle