CAA: Madras Univ students continue stir for third day; varsity closed till Dec 23

A section of students of the Madras University here continued their protest for the third day on Wednesday (December 18) after the arrest of two students during an anti-Citizenship Act march.

Similarly, Madras University on Tuesday said that the varsity will be closed till December 23. The Chennai police, following what its counterparts did in Delhi’s Jamia Milia Islamia campus, entered the university, following which the students sat on a peaceful protest.

Two students — Karthikeyan from the political science department and Subbiah from the public administration department of Madras University — joined the peaceful protest held by 80 students from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in solidarity with the Jamia University students.

They had been marching towards the Madras University when police officers from Triplicane, who had been posted in the area, took the two students into custody by force. The two officers said that the students had to be taken under custody for interrogation and would be released later in the evening.

Meanwhile, students from the university resumed their protests demanding the students’ release. “When we approached our registrar about the arrest of the two students, the registrar informed us that the police would release our friends only if we withdraw our protest here,” one of the students protesting in the varsity said.

Students said that they had decided to continue their protests inside their campus until the two detained people were released. Meanwhile, additional police personnel were deployed near the campus as the protests gained momentum.

Delhi on the boil

The Delhi police said that 21 people, including 12 policemen and six civilians were injured in the clash between police officers and protesters on Tuesday (December 17). Five people have been detained.

Angry protesters demanding the scrapping of the amended citizenship law clashed with police, threw stones at them and damaged several buses in Northeast Delhi’s Seelampur area.

According to NDTV, at least two policemen were injured in the clash. Police said two bikes of traffic cops were burnt by the demonstrators, adding that a police booth in the area was vandalised. CCTV cameras installed in the area were removed by the mob. The protesters also set a few Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses on fire.

Police resorted to baton charges and fired tear gas shells on the protesters who were marching from Seelampur towards Jafrabad. A large number of policemen were deployed following the violence.

The protest had initially been peaceful but turned violent when the security personnel tried to stop the protesters from moving ahead.

Traffic movement between Daryaganj and Rajghat here has been closed due to a demonstration, police said. “Traffic movement is closed from Daryaganj to Raj Ghat (both carriageways) due to demonstration. Traffic is diverted from Delhi Gate, Nishad Raj Marg, ITO towards Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,” the Delhi Traffic Police tweeted.

Traffic Alert

Traffic movement is closed from Daryaganj to Raj Ghat (both carriageways) due to demonstration.Traffic is diverted from Delhi Gate,Nishad Raj Marg,ITO towards Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg.

— Delhi Traffic Police (@dtptraffic) December 17, 2019

Gates of seven metro stations were closed in the wake of the protest, and five of them were reopened after some time.

Security Update

Entry & exit gates of Johri Enclave and Shiv Vihar are closed. Trains will not be halting at these stations.

— Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (@OfficialDMRC) December 17, 2019

Security Update

Entry & exit gates of Welcome, Jaffrabad and Maujpur-Babarpur are closed. Trains will not be halting at these stations.

— Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (@OfficialDMRC) December 17, 2019

Meanwhile, RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad held a demonstration at the Delhi University in support of the amended law. A section of the university students too held protests against the Act and the violence against Jamia students.

The students of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and their counterparts from National Law University, Amity University and Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology carried out protests against the Act.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to Delhiites to maintain peace, saying violence cannot be tolerated in a civilised society. “I appeal to all the citizens of Delhi to maintain peace. Violence of any kind cannot be tolerated in a civilised society. Nothing will be gained by violence. Put your views peacefully,” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.

मेरी सभी दिल्लीवासियो से अपील है कि शांति बनाए रखें। एक सभ्य समाज में किसी भी तरह की हिंसा बर्दाश्त नहीं की जा सकती। हिंसा से कुछ हासिल नहीं होगा। अपनी बात शांति से कहनी है।

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) December 17, 2019

The AAP and its Seelampur MLA Haji Ishraq too appealed to the people to carry out their protest peacefully. “I am appealing all the people to register their protest and convey their message peacefully,” Ishraq said in a video message. He urged locals and youngsters to not venture out on to the main roads in the area to register their protest.

Jamia Millia Islamia

A student from Jamia Millia Islamia University said he was beaten “mercilessly” when he was studying in the library along with 25 others, including 10-12 girls, during the police crackdown.

Many other injured students alleged “barbaric” beatings, abuse and humiliation by the police on those protesting against the new law. Four DTC buses, 100 private vehicles and 10 police bikes were damaged in the clash.

The police had also detained around 50 students, but they were released later.

Also read: Peaceful protest outside Jamia varsity against Citizenship Amendment Act

Police said it arrested 10 people with criminal backgrounds for their alleged involvement in the violence near Jamia University. However, none of them were students. Ten men were on Tuesday remanded to 14 days judicial custody by a Delhi court.

The situation remained tense in the university premises on Tuesday as protesters, including students and local residents, converged outside the varsity holding tricolour and placards to continue their demonstration against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens.

More voices from the Indian film industry on Tuesday backed the students against the Citizenship Amendment Act. Actors Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, Parineeti Chopra, Sidharth Malhotra, veteran screenwriter Javed Akhtar and filmmakers Vishal Bhardwaj and Anurag Kashyap among others expressed solidarity with the youth over Sunday’s violence inside the campus.

Uttar Pradesh

Aligarh Muslim University

Many students were injured in the clashes between police and students in Uttar Pradesh’s Aligarh Muslim University. The Supreme Court, however, refused to set up a committee to look into incidents of violence in different parts of the country since Sunday and asked the petitioners to approach high courts.

Hearing a petition that students were indiscriminately arrested, were injured and were not getting proper medical treatment, a bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said in its order that each fact alleged by the petitioners is disputed, on behalf of the Centre, by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

Meanwhile, in other parts of Uttar Pradesh, officials said that 26 people, including eight students, arrested in connection with the violence at Aligarh Muslim University and surrounding areas, have been released on personal bonds, while evacuation of hostels continued overnight.

However, 19 people have been arrested in Mau area of the state for violence on Monday night, which followed police action in Jamia. Four FIRs have been lodged in connection with Monday’s protest at an Islamic seminary and a private university in Lucknow, according to police.

The UP police have detained 113 people for allegedly trying to vitiate the atmosphere through their social media posts.  The Noida Police too said that it has identified and warned around 300 people spreading rumours on social media regarding the Citizenship  Act and may initiate action against them, which could include arrest.

In Muzaffarnagar, a Samajwadi Party worker was booked for a Facebook post against the new law.

Also read: Twitter ‘finds’ ABVP men amid police team assaulting anti-CAA protesters

Assam

The Assam government will constitute an SIT to probe incidents of violence at the state secretariat area and Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra, in which Youth Congress president and an NSUI activist were allegedly involved, state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

West Bengal

In West Bengal, protesters blocked roads and railway tracks.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the BJP cannot bully the states into enforcing the law.

Kerala

Malayalam actor Mammootty participated in the protest and said on his Facebook page that the country can forge ahead as a nation only when one rises above caste, creed and religious considerations, even though he did not explicitly mention the controversial Act.

Actor Dulquer Salman in a post said, “Secularism, democracy and equality are our birthrights and we must resist any attempt to destroy it. However, do remember that our tradition is that of Ahimsa and non-violence. Protest peacefully and stand up for a better India. #longlivesecularism #unitedwestand,” the Zoya Factor actor posted.

Many other Malayalam actors including Prithviraj, Parvathy, Tovino, Kunchacko Boban and Amala Paul have taken to social media to express their views against the CAA and the police action on students of Jamia Millia Islamia university in Delhi.

In parts of Kerala, stones were thrown at state transport buses. Shops were forcibly closed and protest marches were held in support of a dawn-to-dusk hartal. Over 350 people were arrested by the police as a precautionary measure.

The hartal was organised by a group of 30 Islamic and political groups against the amended Citizenship Act and police action against Jamia students in New Delhi.

Telangana

To express solidarity with the Jamia and AMU students, the Maulana Azad National Urdu University Teachers Association (MANUUTA) also conducted a peaceful march on the varsity campus in Hyderabad.

Maharashtra

Students of the Fergusson College in Maharashtra’s Pune held a rally against the CAA and the NRC.

Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu, Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan slammed the ruling AIADMK over the Citizenship Amendment Act and alleged it was being “obedient to their masters” by supporting the new law.

DMK president M K Stalin called the new law “hasty and autocratic” and alleged the BJP-led Centres objective was not Indias progress but trampling the rights of Muslims.

Bihar

Two days after the incident of arson and stone-pelting in which around a dozen policemen were injured here, the Patna district administration barred dharnas, processions, demonstrations, protest marches and any gathering in the 100-meter vicinity of the Kargil Chowk.

What is the Central government saying?

Meanwhile, at a poll rally in Jharkhand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Congress of spreading lies about the amended Citizenship Act and creating an atmosphere of fear for Muslims in India.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who is in the US, assured the Indian community in New York that the new law was not anti-Muslim and said the Indian culture “does not teach us to hate”.

Unfazed by the current situation in the country, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that the Modi government will ensure that the non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan get Indian nationality and live in the country with honour.

He said the Citizenship Act was not against minorities and accused the opposition of engaging in a “false” campaign over the legislation.