New Delhi: Braving the winter chill, hundreds of people gathered to march in protest against CAA and NRC from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
Among those who participated in the protest were activists Harsh Mander and Yogendra Yadav. Protests are also going on in Jamia Nagar.
The march commenced around 12.45 pm amid cries of Halla Bol, Chhatra Ekta Zindabad, Jai Bhim, and anti-government slogans by scores of protesters from different universities like Jawaharlal Nehru University, JMI and Delhi University.
They marched carrying cutouts of BR Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Zakir Hussain, freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Ashfaqulla Khan and even the Preamble of India, as they voiced their dissent against the CAA.
The march proceeded towards Jantar Mantar without police permission and saw even women with their young daughters participating in the protest.
Meanwhile, the Jamia Teachers’ Association (JTA) requested all the citizens including Jamia fraternity to suspend their protests, against the CAA and the NRC, on the occasion of Christmas on Wednesday.
“Christmas is a globally celebrated festival to commemorate the birth of Jesus. Therefore, JTA appeals to spread a message of peace and love for humanity,” they said. The students of Jamia Millia Islamia also said they will be celebrating Christmas on Wednesday.
CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury condemned reports of a 24-year-old German student being asked to leave India for taking part in a protest against the CAA. He also lauded the woman student of Puducherry University who refused to accept a gold medal to express solidarity with protesters.
The Human Rights Watch on Tuesday urged the police to cease from using unnecessary lethal force against protestors of Citizenship (Amendment) Act in various parts of India.
The US-based human rights body’s South Asia Director Meenakshi Ganguly, in a press release, said: “The Indian authorities should cease using unnecessary lethal force against demonstrators protesting a law that discriminates against Muslims”.
Meanwhile, the police in Uttar Pradesh said on Tuesday that a youth died when they fired in self-defence last week, contradicting an earlier claim by the Uttar Pradesh DGP that no one died in police firing during the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Kanpur police made a similar admission, saying they opened fire in the air but nobody was injured.
Bijnor’s Superintendent of Police (Rural) Vishwajeet Srivastava on Tuesday said a 22-year-old man was killed when a policeman opened fire while facing a violent mob in Nahtaur area.
“On December 20, after Friday prayers, a violent mob attacked a police station and snatched the pistol of sub-inspector Ashish Tomar,” he said.
A constable was fired at when he tried to get it back.
“When the constable opened fire in self-defence, it hit upadravi (troublemaker) Suleiman and he died,” the Superintendent of Police added.
On Sunday, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had visited Suleiman's family in Bijnor.
Suleiman’s mother “told me with tear-filled eyes” that her son has been “martyred” for the country, according to the Congress leader.
The youth’s family said he had been preparing for the civil services entrance exam and claimed he had nothing to do with the protests. Another man, Anis, died in firing from the mob in the district, the SP said. Bijnor Superintendent of Police Sanjiv Tyagi said police used minimum force against the protesters.
