28 activists and other anti-CAA protesters expected to cough up over Rs 63 lakh for damages during protests
In a chilling turn of events amidst the burgeoning protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), the Uttar Pradesh police have served notice to 28 people to recover damages caused to public property when violence broke out during protests in the state.
The notices were issued by Lucknow Additional District Magistrate (east) K.P. Singh on Monday. Recipients of the notices include activist Sadaf Jafar, retired IPS officer S.R. Darapuri and lawyer-activist Mohammad Shoaib. Recipients are expected to cough up more than Rs 63 lakh! The Adityanath administration claims protests at Parivartan crossing in the Hazratganj area of Lucknow on December 19, 2019 led to large scale destruction of public property.
It is noteworthy though that on that day December 19, Mohammad Shoaib and S.R. Darapuri were put under house arrest even before the protest began. Sadaf Jafar meanwhile had the presence of mind to start a Facebook live when the violence began, and so far, charges against her appear inconclusive. However, this did not stop the police from first illegally detaining her and then torturing her in custody.
After being released Sadaf had recounted her experience to SabrangIndia saying, “We were protesting peacefully at Parivartan Chowk and then the arson and stone-pelting took place. More than anything, it appeared to be very state-sponsored. There were two things that raised eyebrows. One, how is it that you have Section 144 imposed and you have people carrying that quantum of stones and not getting detected by the police when there were so many personnel deputed? And they were all dressed up alike – they were all wearing the topis and the typical keffiyehs. They came forward and sat down and rendering namaaz in the middle of arsoning. We were shocked! This just doesn’t happen – it was very dramatic. I am a Muslim and I know this doesn’t happen. It was very strange. Secondly, as arsoning continued, we remained there. I was unable to move towards my car. We took shelter somewhere and I decided to do a Facebook Live and I could see the police be completely inactive at that moment. That again, was very surprising.”
“Aap kuch karte kyun nahi ho? Aap unko pakadte kyun nahi ho?” she says she asked the police while the stone pelting was going on. “When the police car caught fire, that is when the police used tear gas and lathi charged at the people. As things settled, we tried to move towards our vehicles, but we were picked up and I was still continuing with my Facebook Live because I was confident that I was doing nothing wrong.”
Sadaf was tortured in police custody. She recalls, “I was taken to a mahila police station without a female police officer. I could hear screams and cries from where the males were detained. They kept bringing them and hitting them and this continued the whole night of December 19.” Sadaf recounted that soon the female police officers were back from the demonstration site and started hitting her.
“They called me Pakistani. They kept saying ‘Oh she’s Muslim.’ This was the first time I saw them in their communal color. They kept saying you are reproducing here and you’re having so much fun here and what has the government given you that you are behaving like an ‘ehsaan faramosh’?” she said, stating it was clearly a show of ‘you’ and ‘us’.
A police officer, Seelam, Sadaf recalls, told her, “Tera main khoon kaadungi (I will draw your blood),” proceeding to scratch her face and palms, pulling her hair and continuing to slap her. Sadaf Jafar’s full interview may be read here.
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