Urdu poet's daughters among over 100 others booked in Lucknow protests

The Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday (January 21) filed three FIRs against more than a hundred protesters including the two daughters of renowned Urdu poet Munnawar Rana for resorting to “rioting” and “violation of Section 144” during protest against the amended citizenship law at the Ghanta Ghar (clock tower) in Lucknow on Friday (January 17).

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The city square on Friday night witnessed a massive congregation of women and children who came out to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. According to reports, the protest, modelled on New Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh protests, began with just 15 women, and has now grown in size with almost 5,000 joining it.

Incidentally, Union Home Minister Amit Shah is slated to visit the city on Tuesday to attend the rally in support of CAA.

Charges against protesters

UP police filed three FIRs for violation of Section 144 of CrPC, instigating people, assault or criminal force to deter public servant, booking 24 identified people including 16 women and 100 unidentified people.

One of the FIRs charged Sumaiya Rana and Fauzia Rana, the daughters of Munnawar Rana of misbehaving with a woman constable when she asked them to leave the spot. They have been booked under section 188 (disobeying government order) and section 353 (deterring a public servant from performing duties).

While police booked 18 people including 12 women for violation Section 144 in another FIR, the third FIR was filed against two people whom the police accused of instigation people to protest. Reports quoted the police as saying that the two identified as Laiq Hasan and Nasreen Jawed, had instigated the public to disobey Section 144 at the protest site on Friday.

Desperate measures

Despite the cold and imposition of Section 144 at the spot, protesters continued with the agitation on Tuesday.

Police in a bid to disperse the crowd from Ghanta Ghar, on Friday night had cut off electricity, locked washrooms, taken away blankets and poured water on the bonfires. An IANS report said volunteers of the Sikh community have been holding a langar (community kitchen) for women at the protest site for the past four days.

On Sunday (January 19) Lucknow Police Commissioner Sujit Pandey imposed Section 144 at the place in view of Republic Day celebrations and the Defence Expo in the city in February.

The child rights panel, which has been irked over the participation of children in the protest, is keeping a close eye on their involvement in future agitations.

Also read: Video shows police confiscating blankets of protesters in Lucknow

“There were several reports of children being present in the protest and that women were bringing along their kids to the protest. Many reports also suggested that children were made to chant slogans against CAA and NRC, which is a violation of Juvenile Justice Act,” News18 quoted Shuchita Chaturvedi, a member of the child rights commission as saying.