Scores of Delhi University students, protesting against the Centre’s notification to implement CAA rules, were detained by the Delhi Police on Tuesday, March 12. They were taken to the Burari police station from where they were let off after a few hours.
Video surfaced on social media platforms where the Delhi Police personnel were seen using force against the protesting students. Students alleged that police personnel tore off the clothes of protesting women students.
You can watch the video here.
Student alleges molestation
Baadal, a Delhi University student activist and one of the detained students spoke to Maktoob Media alleging some female students were molested by the police personnel.
“Police brutally attacked the students, especially women. They tore our clothes and hurled abuses, calling calling us r**di k bacche,” Maktoob quoted Baadal.
“Since we were in large numbers, we refused to enter the Burari police station. We marched and registered our peaceful protest against the unconstitutional CAA right outside the station,” she said.
“The fact that this was done on the first day of Ramadan shows the authorities discriminatory nature against Muslims. This is a tactic to appease the right-wing right before the general elections ,” she was quoted by Maktoob.
You can watch the video here.
Save the constitution, students urge citizens
The All India Student Association (AISA) president Nilasis Bose and general secretary Prasenjeet Kumar released a press statement urging citizens not to let the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central Government destroy the Constitution of India and its vibrant democracy.
“With the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2024, being notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday, the BJP-led Central government has delivered yet another blow to the democracy and secular fabric of the nation. The widespread and strong resistance against the patently unjust, discriminatory, and divisive CAA in December 2019, and the fight put up by the people to uphold the Constitution and democracy was quelled by the government,” the statement read.
The Narendra Modi government, on March 11, notified the implementation of CAA, just days ahead of the announcement of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, which was passed in 2019 by the Indian Parliament and subsequently got the president’s assent, was put on hold by the Modi government after facing massive nationwide protests from Opposition parties and citizens who termed the law as “anti-Muslim”.
According to CAA, persecuted non-Muslim immigrants including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from neighbouring Muslim countries Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh will be granted immediately Indian citizenship. The only condition is they should have arrived in India before December 31, 2014, or lived in India for six years.
The CAA has been heavily criticised since the beginning, with many calling it unconstitutional by granting citizenship purely based on religion.
