Lucknow Police had booked around 50 people in connection with violence during protests in Lucknow. Now, the kin of those arrested are looking out for lawyers to seek release of their close ones from police custody but are facing difficulty in doing so.
Sabrang India had listed out the worst affected district in Uttar Pradesh due to Police excess on protestors as well as locals alike. Lucknow Police had booked 54 people under various charges of IPC and put thousands under house arrest including retired police officer SR Darapuri, Sandeep Pandey a Magsaysay award winner. Lucknow police had also detained The Hindu correspondent Omar Rashid along with an activist inquiring about his Kashmiri background and verbally abused him, while the activist with him was beaten up. Further, Mohd. Shoaib of Rihai Manch has been detained with his whereabouts unknown. Sadaf Jafar, activist and member of Congress Party has also been detained and was reportedly beaten in police custody. Internet remained suspended in Lucknow for 6 days until December 25.
The news comes that lawyers, who are essentially the officers of the court, have refused to represent people who have been arrested for their alleged involvement in violence during anti-CAA protests terming them as “anti-national” a rhetoric that has become notoriously famous for ridiculing these democratic protests.
Waseem, a 27-year-old was arrested for indulging in violence during one of the protests and his grandmother has been making rounds of lowers courts in Lucknow to find a lawyer to represent her son in court but has not been successful in finding one. She said that the lawyers she approached downright refused to take up the case and ridiculed her and called Waseem an “anti-national”. Similar is the plight of many others, making it difficult for kin of those arrested filing bail applications and seeking their release.
Meanwhile Lucknow administration has set a 7-day deadline for response to the 150 notices issued by it for attachment of property on the people accused of damaging public property during anti-CAA protests.
In Varanasi, 56 persons arrested with charges of rioting, unlawful assembly, disobedience to order by public servant, causing hurt to public servant, assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty and wrongful restraint were granted bail, however only have been released from custody.
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