India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, JANUARY 21— There was police crackdown on peaceful protests against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Uttar Pradesh government used excessive force to intimidate and harass those critical of the controversial citizenship law, said human rights group Amnesty India in its fact-finding report.
“While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that criticism makes a democracy strong, there is a total disregard by the state towards those who are protesting against the CAA in the Prime Minister’s Lok Sabha constituency, Varanasi. Permissions for peaceful protests have been denied, protestors have been arrested, the state police have used excessive force and state officials have openly threatened and intimidated protestors,” said Avinash Kumar, Executive Director, Amnesty International India.
Amnesty has released the 12-page report after interviewing over two dozen people from different parts of the city and gathering corroborating evidence.
The rights group has called on PM Modi and UP government “to end the gross violation of right to peaceful assembly in Varanasi and other parts of Uttar Pradesh.”
During the protests against CAA on December 19 and 20 in several parts of UP, more than 20 people were killed, mostly in police firing, and hundreds were arrested including over 50 in Varanasi – many of them were students of Banaras Hindu University. They were released on bail earlier this month.
Excerpts from Amnesty Report:
In Varanasi, peaceful protests organised by students, activists and members from the general public started from 13 December 2019, when a solidarity march was stopped by the Station House Officer (SHO) of Jaitpura police station. Speaking to Amnesty International India, Abid Sharif, an activist who participated in the solidarity march said, “When we were about to start the solidarity march, the SHO Shashi Bhushan Rai met us and asked the reason for holding the protest march. When we told him that we are protesting against the CAA and NRC, he started threatening us. He said, “If you have to protest, do it at home. Does the road belong to your father? I will destroy your family. The new law will be implemented”.
The Varanasi police have ordered a probe into the incident but Rai continues to be the Investigating Officer for the protests that took place in Beniya Bagh, one of the two major protests in Varanasi. The second major protest took place on 20 December 2019 in Bajardiha. The police’s response to both these protests has been heavy-handed, riddled with excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests and differential treatment of assemblies. Between 11 and 23 December 2019, more than 70 people were arrested for peacefully protesting against the CAA in Varanasi. Amnesty International India also found that the police indiscriminately lathi charged peaceful protestors and innocent bystanders. It led to the death of an 8-year old child who was caught in a stampede and resulted in over a dozen injuries.
Interviews with the families of the arrested persons also show that police used violence during arrests.
Muhammad Tufail, whose nephew Mohammad Naseem was arrested by the police in the middle of the night in Bajardiha said, “The police broke into his room and took him away. They broke down a door that fell on his sleeping father. When we asked the police for the grounds of arrest, they did not say anything and dragged Naseem away. The police hit him with lathis on the way to the police station. When we met him in jail, he told us that he was tortured at the police station as well. We saw him in pain.”
The arrested persons were also harassed and intimidated in jail. Speaking to Amnesty International India, Iqbal, a shopkeeper in Varanasi and an arrested protestor said, “The jail authorities kept abusing us. We were imprisoned for more than two weeks. The jail officials would keep asking the Hindu protestors as to why they were supporting the Muslims. One day, they made us clean the jail for more than two hours. The blankets they provided us were very thin and not enough to protect us from the biting winter cold.”
Most of the arrested persons were kept in custody for over 15 days, despite securing bail. Amnesty International India also documented the excessive delay by the jail authorities in providing access to counsel to the arrested persons. Speaking to Amnesty International India, Ekta Shekhar, a climate change activist who was also arrested for protesting said, “Despite peaceful protests, we were arrested. I wanted to request the district magistrate to give me mercy bail because I had to take care of my 14-month old child. For three days, we were not allowed to contact our family members and lawyers. We were treated as rioters and not as peaceful protestors.”
“The Prime Minister and the Uttar Pradesh Government must understand that protesting peacefully is not a crime. It is a right. The Prime Minister must lead the way and set an example by showing that peaceful dissent in his constituency, Varanasi is not being crushed. The Prime Minister must ensure that the Uttar Pradesh government sets up an independent investigation into all cases of police brutality. Those responsible must be prosecuted,” said Avinash Kumar.
Among those who were arrested in Beniya Bagh was Ekta Shekhar, a climate change activist in Varanasi. Ekta refutes the police allegations that the protests were violent. Ekta claims the police and the district administration denied her access to her family members when in jail.
Speaking to Amnesty International India, she said, “The Uttar Pradesh jail manual says that a prisoner can meet a relative on a Saturday. But when I tried to meet my husband, Ravi Shekhar who was kept in the male barracks, I was denied permission. It was only after my husband and others went on a hunger strike, the jail authorities allowed us to meet that too for only five minutes. They did not even let me touch my husband’s hand. The jail authorities kept telling us that we were causing ‘riots’ in Varanasi.”
Excessive Use of Force During Arrests
On 20 December 2019, a peaceful protest march began from Bajardiha. Rashid Jamal, Imam of the local mosque in Bajardiha told Amnesty International India that the protest was neither announced in the mosque nor put up on social media. People just organically gathered after the Friday prayers and then others joined in. “When our rights are attacked, when the constitution is attacked, it is the right and duty of every citizen to raise his or her voice,” said Jamal.
Following the national call for protests, people gathered after the Friday prayer and within a few minutes of marching, were stopped by the police. The police first tried to disperse the crowd and then went onto lathi charge on the protestors, causing a stampede that resulted in the death of an 8-year-old Sagir Ahmed and critically injured 16-year old, Tanvir Alam.
Speaking to Amnesty International India, Akbar Ali, Tanvir Alam’s uncle said, “After the Friday prayers got over, at 2:30 PM the crowd started to gather. In the beginning, there were about 50 people but later increased to 800. Even though the protests were peaceful, the police started to disperse the crowd. While some went away, there were many who were still on the street. There is a maidan (playground) here. You will always find children playing there. The police started brutally beating up the people there. This caused a stampede. Due to panic, many people fell on each other. Our nephew might have been crushed by the crowd. We reached the playground and helped a lot of boys who were hurt, but we could not spot our nephew. After a few minutes, we found him unconscious, lying on the road, bleeding profusely from his forehead. We immediately took him to the nearby hospital and then from there to the Trauma Centre.”
When Amnesty International India spoke to them, Tanvir was still in the ICU. The family hoped that he would be discharged soon. They have not yet heard from the state administration on any investigation regarding the police brutality. The family has been promised to be reimbursed for their medical expenses by the district administration but they seem sceptical on whether the promise will be kept.
For Sagir’s family, the police brutality cost them their son’s life. The 8-year-old was an innocent bystander to the protests. After the protests and the police crackdown on them was over, the family realised that he was missing. A neighbour later brought a picture from the Trauma Center that Vakeel Ahmed, Sagir’s father recognised and rushed to the Center to find that his son had died.
Irshad Ahmed, Sagir’s Uncle told Amnesty International India that Sagir was playing with his daughter when he took his cycle and went out. “He must have gone to see the protest. We started searching for him and learnt that those who were injured had been taken to the Trauma Centre. At 11 PM, after searching for him for over four hours, we were informed that Sagir had died. After waiting for an hour, we were taken to the mortuary to recognise Sagir’s body but it was only at 3 AM, after the post mortem, that were we given his body.”
The police told Sagir’s family to bury his body before dawn. “They asked us to hurriedly bury him in the middle of the night, as it may cause trouble and chaos in the morning.”Four weeks later, they had still not received his post mortem report. The District Magistrate has assured them that compensation will be given.The intimidation and crackdown by the police continues. Many who were injured during the 20 December protests left their homes and sought medical treatment in other areas due to fear of reprisal from the authorities. There is constant police patrolling in the areas where the protests took place, even at night when the police goes around knocking on doors with their lathis. Amnesty International India found a notice pasted on the walls of the local police station in Bajardiha that had photos taken from the day of the protest. The notice included an appeal to identify and report the protestors and even announced a prize for those who report them.
Full Report of Amnesty International on Varanasi
