Delhi: 139 protesters detained for violating Section 144

  24 December 2019    Read: 1126
Delhi: 139 protesters detained for violating Section 144

The Delhi police detained 139 people from outside Uttar Pradesh Bhawan and Assam Bhawan here on Monday when they were about to begin a protest against the action taken by the U.P. police during demonstrations against the amended Citizenship Act in the State.

Eish Singhal, DCP (New Delhi), said that 46 people, including 27 women were detained from outside U.P. Bhawan and 93 people, including 52 women were detained from outside Assam Bhawan. They were taken to Mandir Marg police station and all of them were released at 5 p.m. “It was a peaceful protest. Most of the protesters were students,” he added.

At U.P. Bhavan, the protesters were demanding the resignation of U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over the killing of an eight-year-old boy who died during a crack down on protesters in Varanasi. Former JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) president N. Sai Balaji and All India Students’ Association’s Delhi unit president Kawalpreet Kaur were detained the moment they reached.

At Assam Bhawan, the JNUSU called for a protest against the arrest of RTI Activist Akhil Gogoi in Assam under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

Amid heavy police presence and a water cannon on stand by, students were detained as soon as they reached the site of protest. However, a group of 15-20 students marched in with placards from a bylane and raised slogans like “Free Akhil Gogoi” and “Delhi police sharam karo”, before being forcefully shoved into police vehicles.

A police officer on duty outside the U.P. Bhawan said that Section 144 of CrPC was imposed outside U.P. Bhavan and Assam Bhawan. All preventive measures were taken to avoid gathering of protesters. The people who arrived to protest were taken to Mandir Marg police station and women protesters were taken to the police station in police vehicles by women constables, he said.

“Many of the women protesters were also dropped off at their respective institutions by women constables,” the officer added.

Rushnae Kabir (22), a JNU student, condemned the “systematic police crackdown” on students and on minority communities

Pritish Menon (25), a student, called the UAPA “draconian”.

 

The Hindu


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