Citizenship Amendment Act protests in Uttar Pradesh

Non-centralized leadership CAA protests in Uttar Pradesh was a protest that began in response to the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in both houses of Parliament on 11 December 2019. and the police intervention against students at Jamia Millia Islamia who were opposing law which gives priority to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians resident in India before 2014, but excludes Muslims, including minority sects.

[2] The protest were supported by world wide Indian community generally against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's citizenship act.

[12] It is also alleged that the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which the government plans to implement for the country in 2021, could be used to deprive Muslims of Indian citizenship.

[14][15] Women's safety, rising cost of commodities, increasing unemployment and poverty have acted as catalysts for the protest.

[15][16] The Indian economy has been witnessing a decreasing growth rate,[17] increasing household debt,[18] inflation,[19] unemployment[20] and economic inequality.

[27] Anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protests in Uttar Pradesh were held in Aligarh, Kanpur, Bareilly, Varanasi and Lucknow.

[35] Arif (25), Zaheer (40), and Moshin (25) from Meerut, while Anas (22) and Sulaiman (26) from Nehtaur area, Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh.

[36] Rights activists in Uttar Pradesh, said local policemen were conducting raids on their houses and offices to prevent them from planning fresh demonstrations.

According to the Press Trust of India, the death toll from Friday's protests in Uttar Pradesh's 13 districts has risen to 11.

[40] In Rampur, the protesters held a general strike (bandh) while a ban on public assembly was in force in the state.

[43] On 22 December 2019, large number of police personnel were deployed in several districts in Uttar Pradesh, including Lucknow, Meerut, Aligarh, Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar.

[59] The UP government asked the Union Home Minister, to ban the radical Islamic organisation Popular Front of India (PFI) alleging that it was involved in violence during the protests in the state.

[61] On the night of 18 January, Uttar Pradesh police cracked down on the CAA protesters and snatched their blankets, utensils and food items.

The protesters alleged that police also cut the electricity connection to the ground, locked the public toilet nearby and poured water on the bonfire in the winter night.

[61] On 21 January, police registered cases against 160 women for violation of the ban on assembly and protesting against CAA in Lucknow.

[64] Despite ban on assembly in Lucknow on 21 January, Home Minister Amit Shah was allowed by the administration to address a pro CAA public rally.

[70] On 19 December, People's Union for Democratic Rights' fact-finding team consisting of activists Yogendra Yadav, Harsh Mander and Kavita Krishnan released a report on police crackdown at the Aligarh Muslim University.

The report alleged that the police had called the students as terrorists and had used religiously charged slogans such as "Jai Shri Ram".

The report was prepared after visiting the campus, based on the video and audio clips of the incident, statements of the injured students and witnesses.

[40] On 24 December 1000 – 1200 protesters were booked after organising a candle march inside Aligarh Muslim University for violating section 144.

The VC asked to students to cooperate with the fact-finding committee and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team that was visiting the campus.

[83] A temporary faculty submitted a complaint against the song to the Deputy Director of IIT Kanpur, alleging that the poem provokes anti-Hindu sentiments.

[82][84][85] A commission was subsequently set up;[86][87] however, the student media body rejected the charges as misinformed and communal, which divorced the poem out of its societal context.