Citizenship Amendment Act Protests LIVE: Protests Against New Citizenship Law Continue To Grip Nation

• The petitioners are directed to approach the High Courts.
• The High Courts will be at liberty to pass appropriate orders on arrests and medical treatment if brought to their notice.
  The High Courts will hear both sides of the issue and appoint committees for fact-finding.

Tensions remain high across India Monday after five days of protests against a contentious citizenship law turned violent in the capital New Delhi, with police using tear gas to disperse crowds.

Anger against the law has fueled protests across Asia’s third-largest economy, from Assam to the east of Delhi, to demonstrations in Bengaluru and the financial capital Mumbai.

Authorities shut down internet access in some districts in Assam -- which borders Bangladesh -- and in West Bengal as protesters defied police to take to the streets against the Citizenship Amendment Law.

The agitation in Assam prompted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was scheduled to visit the state, to delay a three-day trip that was set to begin on Sunday. The United Nations has described the law as “fundamentally discriminatory.”

According to the amended Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till Dec. 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants, but given Indian citizenship.

The situation in Jamia Millia Islamia, which witnessed protests against the amended Citizenship Act, remained tense this morning and many students decided to leave for their homes, sources said.

The university had turned into a battlefield on Sunday as police entered the campus and also used force, following protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which led to violence and arson.

According to sources, the situation continues to be tense with many women students preferring to leave the campus for their homes.  Many students feel they are not safe even inside the campus.  The varsity had declared winter vacation from Saturday till January 5 and even postponed the exams.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has appealed to the Centre to repeal the amended Citizenship Act while urging the Union Home Minister and the Delhi Chief Minister to do all it takes to bring the situation under control.

"Disturbed by reports from Delhi in the wake of anti CAB protests....urge (Home Minister) Amit Shah & (Delhi CM) Arvind Kejriwal to do all it takes to bring the situation under control & prevent it from escalating further," Singh tweeted.

Singh on Thursday had said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was a direct assault on India's secular character and Parliament had "no authority" to pass a law that "defiled" the Constitution and violated its basic principles.

Any legislation that seeks to "divide the people of the country on religious lines is illegal and unethical, and could not be allowed to sustain," he had also said in a statement.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, Ramesh Chennithala began a joint "satyagraha" here on Monday to protest against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act .

State ministers, LDF leaders, Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders are among those taking part in the three-hour long protest at the Martyr's column here which began at 10 am.

Kerala was the first state to declare that CAA would not be implemented in the southern state.

"The state has decided to put up a united protest as the Act has created concern among the citizens and it destroys the values of equality and secularism enshrined in the Constitution," Vijayan has said in a Facebook post.

Prominent personalities from socio cultural fields are among those taking part in the protest.

A group of Jamia Millia students stood shirtless in the bone-chilling cold outside the university gates on Monday to protest the police action against their colleagues a day earlier.

"Our colleagues have been beaten up badly. The policemen entered bathrooms, libraries and beat up girls. Our protest is against the goons called Delhi Police," said a research scholar who did not want to be identified.

As a few women escorted an injured student to narrate their ordeal to the media, some people were seen asking them not to give any statements.

"We were inside the university when the police barged in. Around 20 policemen came from gate no 7 and 50 others came from the rear gate. We told them we were not involved in the violence. They didn't listen. They didn't even spare women," Khanzala, who suffered injuries to the legs and abdomen, said.

A women broke down as Khanzala showed his injuries to the media.

A few students and locals were seen clearing the roads to allow smooth movement of vehicles.

Two cases have been registered in connection with violence at Jamia Millia Islamia and adjoining areas on Sunday following protests against the amended Citizenship Act, according to Delhi Police.

The university had turned into a battlefield on Sunday as police entered the campus and also used force, following protest against the Act.

"One case has been registered at Jamia Nagar Police Station and another case registered at New Friends Colony Police Station," a senior police official said.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear on Tuesday pleas which have alleged police atrocities on students holding protests against the amended Citizenship Act at the Aligarh Muslim University and the Jamia Millia Islamia University.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde also took serious note of the rioting and destruction of public property during protests against the Act and said this must stop immediately.

A group of lawyers led by senior advocate Indira Jaising and Collin Gonsalves mentioned the matter before the court urging it to take suo motu (on its own) cognisance of the alleged violence unleashed against students who are holding protest against the Act.

The bench also comprising justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant asked the lawyers to file their petitions and said it would hear them tomorrow.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan lashed out at the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, saying it was an attempt to "curb" freedom.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's agenda was to ensure that India should not be a secular, but a religious nation, Vijayan said at a joint protest meeting organised by the ruling Left Democratic Front and the opposition Congress-headed United Democratic Front, adding this will not be allowed.

No Indian has anything to worry about the new citizenship law, Prime Minister Modi tweeted. Modi also appealed people to stay away from rumour-mongering and falsehoods.

Suspension of internet services in Assam was extended by another 24 hours on Monday to prevent alleged misuse of social media in disturbing the peace and maintain law and order in the state, officials said.

The state has been under an internet blackout since last Wednesday amid violent protests against the citizenship law.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said some parties are trying to "instigate" students and using them as "pawns" to further their petty political interests.

Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra accused the opposition parties of misleading people and trying to "bifurcate" the country in the name of Hindus and Muslims by firing from the shoulders of students.

Parents and local guardians on Monday came out in support of students protesting outside the Jamia Millia University against the police action during a protest over the amended Citizenship Act a day earlier.

The parents, mostly from nearby areas, said they could not keep themselves confined to their homes when their children were being attacked. A group of around 50 women, including students and their family members, demanded that Home Minister Amit Shah resign in the wake of police atrocities inflicted on students on Sunday.

Around 50 people who gathered outside the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad complex in Gujarat to protest against police action on Jamia Millia Islamia students a day earlier in Delhi were detained, an official said.

Along with activists, including Shamshad Pathan of Alp-Sankhyak Adhikar Manch, several faculty members, students of IIMA, CEPT University and other prominent institutions were also taken into custody for agitating on the footpath outside IIMA.

Noted activist and classical dancer Mallika Sarabhai also took part in the demonstration, but she was not among those who were detained.

The official said the protesters, mainly from outfits like Alpsankhyak Adhikar Manch and socio-cultural organisation ANHAD, besides other NGOs and civic rights groups, did not have permission to assemble at the place, adding that they would be released soon.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday cautioned against "jihadist, Maoist and separatist" elements getting into student activism, and asserted protests fanned across the country will not derail the economic agenda.

The remarks come in the light of continued protests across many universities in the last few days following the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill. Sitharaman said she is not aware of what happened at New Delhi's Jamia Milia Islamia last night.

She hit out strongly against the misguided Congress party for backing "fringe groups" at universities which have shown Maoist or separatist tendencies.

Students in large numbers hit the streets on Monday to express solidarity with the students of the Jamia Milia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University protesting against the amended Citizenship Act as agitation against the new law in other parts of the country found resonance in the metro city.

Hundreds of students from the Tata Institute of Social Science and the University of Mumbai held protests to denounce the BJP-led government over the Citizen Amendment Act and also the proposed National Register of Citizens.

They condemned the police action against the students of the Delhi-based JMI and AMU. The protests in the financial capital were peaceful.

TISS students gathered outside the college premises in the morning, carrying placards with anti-government slogans.

Congress leaders led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held a sit-in at the India Gate in a show of solidarity with the protesting students from Jamia Millia Islamia and several other universities across the country, and alleged that the amended citizenship law was intended to destroy the Constitution.

After a two-hour 'silent protest' from 4 p.m..to 6 p.m., the Congress general secretary hit out at the Modi government over the citizenship law, saying the police crackdown on students of Jamia Millia Islamia on Sunday was an attack on the soul of India.

"This country is for everyone, it is for all those students who were beaten up yesterday. Attack on students is an attack on the soul of India," she said. She said the citizenship amendment law was against India's Constitution and that it was brought to "destroy" the Constitution.

"Each and every Congress worker will fight against Modi government which is turning dictatorial," said Priyanka Gandhi, wondering why Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "silent" on assault on women, economy, joblessness and what happened against the students.

The Congress general secretary was joined at the protest by leaders like Ahmed Patel, AK Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Randeep Singh Surjewala, besides hundreds of party workers.

Women from all age groups, including grandmothers and sisters of Jamia students and alumni, took the lead in the city against the alleged police excesses in Jamia Millia Islamia and the amended Citizenship Act on Monday and vowed to continue the fight for justice till their "last breath".

A few women, in their 60s, almost limped to the protest site, while some accompanied their family members and classmates. The protesting women included grandmothers, mothers, sisters of Jamia students, and alumni.

Anti-citizenship law protests snowballed into a major flashpoint in West Bengal on Monday with highways and railway lines blocked and incidents of arson and loot reported from many places, as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee declared Citizenship Amendment Act and National Registry of Citizens can be enforced in the state only on her "dead body".

Mamata Banerjee led a 4-kilometre march against the Citizenship Amendment Act, and dared the Centre to dismiss her government, ignoring Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar's disapproval, as protests erupted in several places including state capital Kolkata.

Banerjee, the only chief minister to have gone the whole hog against the new citizenship law by protesting on the streets of Kolkata, vowed to block the implementation of CCA and the proposed NRC and blamed "some powers from outside" the state for unabated vandalism.

Assam, the gateway to the northeast, where the development first ignited public fury, is largely calm with curfew relaxed and people going about their lives almost normally.

Protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act broke out in Shivamogga, Ballari, Mysuru, Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka on Monday.

In Mysuru, hundreds of people came out on the street, raising slogans demanding the abolition of the CAA and took out a bike rally against the Act was taken out.

Holding placards and the Indian flag, the protestors shouted "Down, Down BJP, We Want Justice" and "Abolish CAA".

In Shivamogga, former lawmaker KB Prasanna Kumar led the protests near Gandhi Park in Shivamogga under the Kote police station limits. Fearing that the protests would turn violent, police took him into their custody.

In Bengaluru, the IISc students organised a day-long silent protest in front of the statue of Jamsetji Tata in solidarity with the students of Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi and other parts of India.

Holding placards, the students opposed the CAA and read out the preamble of the Indian Constitution giving fundamental rights to the Indian citizens.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday alleged that the opposition parties are spreading "falsehood" about the Citizenship Amendment Act among the students.

The BJP president accused the Congress, Aam Admi Party and the Trinamool Congress of "misleading" students on CAA. "Congress, AAP and the Trinamool Congress are playing vote bank politics over CAA, and are misguiding the students and creating an environment of violence in the country," Shah said.

He was addressing an election rally in support of party candidate from Poreyahat assembly constituency in Godda district of Jharkhand.

Road and rail blockades continued in West Bengal on Monday as violent protests over the citizenship law refused to die down, amid warning by state authorities and appeal from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, even as over 300 people were arrested.

The TMC supremo, who led a mega rally from Red Road to Jorasanko Thakur Bari, the ancestral house of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in north Kolkata, urged the agitators to not indulge in vandalism and arson, and said it will only undermine the very motive of the protest.

Notwithstanding the appeal, incidents of violence were reported from several districts across the state with sources saying over 300 people have been arrested so far.

At least two dozen university campuses across the country saw students lead protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and police action against the pupils of Jamia Millia Islamia.

As many as 21 people have been arrested in connection with the clashes between AMU students and police over the amended Citizenship Act and orders issued to completely vacate all hostels of the university, officials said on Monday.

"We have arrested 21 persons in the matter. Named FIR has been lodged against 56 persons and others unidentified," SSP (Aligarh) Akash Kulhary told PTI over phone.

Senior AMU official Rahat Abrar said about 50 percent of the inmates have vacated their hostel rooms.

Accusing the Modi government of being the "creator of violence and divisiveness", Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday said it had declared a war against its own people and that the writers of this script of polarisation were Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

In a statement, she alleged that the BJP government's intention was clear about wanting to spread instability and creating an atmosphere of religious tension for political interests.

"But let the Modi government understand. When youth power awakens, it gives rise to a new wave of change. Police brutalities on the youth and students will prove the beginning of the end of Modi regime," she said.

Protesters vandalised a police station and torched vehicles as a demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act and police action at Jamia Millia Islamia University turned violent here on Monday, prompting police to fire in the air.

The videos of the violence, which have gone viral on social media, show that the computer room of Mau's Dakshintola police station vandalised with chairs and some computers damaged.

A portion of the boundary wall of the police station was also damaged, and firemen could be seen extinguishing fire, which had erupted in one corner of the police station.

Dakshintola police station SHO Nihar Nandan Kumar told PTI, "Over 300 barged into the police station premises between 5.00 pm and 6.00 pm. They were agitating, and had broken the boundary wall. There have been some minor damages. Let me assess the extent of damage."

Police lobbed tear-gas shells and also fired in the air to control the situation.

Ten people with criminal background have been arrested for allegedly being involved in the violence near Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi, police said on Tuesday.

The accused were arrested on Monday night, a senior police officer said, adding that no student has been arrested.

Incidents of stone throwing on state-run Kerala State Road Transport Corporation buses were reported from various parts of Kerala as the dawn-to-dusk hartal was called against the Citizenship Amendment Act and police action on students of Jamia university in Delhi.

A group of 30 Islamic and political outfits have called the hartal from which major political parties, including the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the opposition Congress and Indian Union Muslim League have been keeping away.

KSRTC, private buses, four-wheelers and autorickshaws were seen plying in the state capital, while in north Kerala, especially Kannur and Kozhikode, roads wore a deserted look in the early hours of the stir.

Stone throwing incidents on KSRTC buses have been reported from Peroorkada in the capital city, Palakkad, Wayanad, Kozhikode and Aluva in Kochi. In Palakkad, around 120 people have been either arrested or taken into preventive custody till 9 a.m., said Superintendent of Police Siva Vikram.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider a plea seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation or a court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the violence during protests against the amended Citizenship Act across the country.

The matter was mentioned for urgent listing before a bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, which said, "We will take care of the violence".

The bench told advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, the petitioner in the case, that it cannot assume the jurisdiction for anything happening all over the country as the situation and facts may be different.

Upadhyay told the bench that trains were set ablaze during the protest in West Bengal and a CBI or SIT probe was needed to find out the real conspirator who was behind the violent protests.

The top court is scheduled to hear during the day a batch of petitions which have raised the issue of alleged police atrocities against students at Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia here during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

The Australian government on Tuesday asked its citizens to exercise "high degree of caution" while travelling to India, which has witnessed violent protests against the amended Citizenship Act.

Last week, the U.S., the U.K., Singapore, Canada and Israel had warned their citizens against travelling to northeast India in view of the violent protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act.

"Demonstrations against the new Citizenship Amendment Act are taking place in parts of the country. Some have turned violent," the advisory stated.

Protests over the amended Citizenship Act stretched into the fifth day in West Bengal, with agitators on Tuesday blocking roads and railway tracks in parts of the state.

Tension ran high in Basirhat area of North 24 Parganas, where protesters took to the streets and raised slogans against the Narendra Modi government.

As many as 354 protesters have been arrested for violence over the past few days, with police stepping up vigil in the trouble-torn pockets of the state. Several trains to north Bengal were either cancelled or delayed, railway officials said.

Internet services continued to remain suspended for the third day in Malda, Uttar Dinajpur, Murshidabad, Howrah, and parts of North and South 24 Parganas to prevent rumour-mongering and circulation of fake news on social media.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is scheduled to lead a rally from Jadavpur to Bhawanipore in south Kolkata against the citizenship law. The BJP is also set to take out rallies across the state in support of the amended Act.

Assam

The officials said In neighbouring Assam, curfew was lifted in Guwahati following improvement in the law and order situation.

Shops and business establishments were open in Guwahati, and vehicles plied as usual. In Dibrugarh district, curfew has been relaxed for 14 hours from 6 a.m. on Tuesday, officials said. Mobile internet services, however, remain suspended in parts of the state.

Shillong

Curfew was also eased for 13 hours in Shillong on Tuesday even as the state administration continued to restrict mobile messaging services in the state. No violence, however, has been reported in the state since Monday

The Citizenship Amendment Act won’t affect any Indian citizen, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an election rally in Jharkhand.

Accusing the Congress of peddling lies over the Citizenship Act and creating an atmosphere of fear among Muslims, Modi appealed to college and university students, who have been protesting against the law, to bring forth issues for discussion with the government in a "democratic manner".

He alleged that "urban naxals" were trying to instigate youth in the country to foment trouble. "Congress is spreading lies, creating an atmosphere of fear for Muslims over the Citizenship Act. I give my assurances no citizen in the country will be affected by the law," he said.

In fresh violence, angry protesters demanding to scrap amended citizenship law clashed with police, pelted stones at them and damaged several buses in Northeast Delhi's Seelampur area.

Police resorted to baton charges and fired tear gas shells on the protesters who were marching from Seelampur towards Jafrabad. Clashes erupted between police and protesters at Seelampur Chowk when the security personnel tried to stop them from moving ahead. According to a senior police officer, the protest began at around 12 p.m.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday likened the police crackdown on students of the Jamia Millia Islamia to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

He said an "atmosphere of fear" was being created with such actions,
while speaking to reporters outside the Vidhan Bhawan.

The police did not fire any bullet on protesters near Jamia Millia Islamia on Sunday, but an empty cartridge was found from the area, a senior Home Ministry official said on Tuesday.

A total of three persons were admitted to Safdarjung and Holy Family hospitals, the official said.

While the one admitted at Holy Family Hospital did not have any bullet injury and was discharged, separate police and medical probes were on into the nature of injury of the two admitted at Safdarjung, the Ministry of Home Affairs official said.

"We want to make it clear that the Delhi Police did not fire any bullet on protesters at Jamia. However, an investigation is on about an empty cartridge that was found from the spot," the official said. So far, 10 people were arrested by the police and none of them were students.

In the wake of violent protest in Seelampur area, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday appealed to Delhiites to maintain peace, saying violence cannot be tolerated in a civilised society.

Angry protesters demanding scrapping of the amended citizenship law torched several motor bikes, pelted stones at police personnel and damaged public buses in Northeast Delhi's Seelampur area.

"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.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday asserted 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.

Shah also challenged those, who are against the new law, to oppose the legislation as much as they can.

The home minister said no Indian will lose his or her nationality due to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and the legislation has been enacted to give citizenship to persecuted minorities of the three neighbouring countries.

He asked students who are opposing the legislation to read it properly and understand its meaning.

The Supreme Court Tuesday agreed to hear on Wednesday the plea seeking a direction to the Centre and three states, including West Bengal, to publicise aims, objectives and the benefits of the Citizenship Amendment Act to weed out the circulation of fake news on the subject.

Bhartiya Janata Party leader and lawyer Ashwini Upadhyay, who initially sought a Central Bureau Investigation or a court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the large scale violence during protests, later filed the amended PIL seeking a direction to the Centre, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Delhi governments to publicise the factual aspects of the newly enacted CAA.

A section of the students of the Madras University continued their protest for the second day on Tuesday against the amendment to the Citizenship Act, as police entered the campus.

Defiant students said they will continue their agitation "through the night."

While police personnel who entered the campus said they were for the "safety of the students," the protesters alleged two of the students were picked up by police.

Police sources said two students have been called for questioning over allegedly inciting students of affiliated colleges to join the stir at the varsity's Marina campus.

The varsity, according to the about 50 protesting students, has declared holiday till Jan. 2.

The coordinator claimed that the two students are "under the custody of police."

A senior police official told reporters on the campus that they had no intention of forcibly evicting the students from the campus.

"We arrived here following a representation from the varsity authorities and for the safety of students," he said.

Asked if two students have been detained, the official said "when somebody is called in for inquiry, you cannot call it arrest or detention."