At least 15 people, including an 8-year-old boy, have lost their lives in Uttar Pradesh as the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act turned violent in the state, officials said on Saturday.
After Friday prayers, protesters clashed with police at several places in the state and hurled stones and torched vehicles, they said.
While Lucknow and Aligarh were peaceful after the prayers, clashes were reported from nearly 20 districts, including Firozabad, Bhadohi, Bahraich, Farrukhabad, Gorakhpur and Sambhal.
Four deaths were reported from Meerut district and two from Kanpur, while the boy was killed in a stampede in Varanasi when a violent mob was being chased by policemen. Two people lost their lives in Bijnor and one each in Sambhal and Firozabad, the officials said.
Inspector General, Kanpur range, Mohit Agarwal said the two people dead in the district have been identified. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who Friday night issued an appeal not to pay heed to rumours and help maintain peace and order, is keeping a close watch on the situation and is reported to have cancelled all his programmes outside Lucknow.
Director General of Police O.P. Singh on Friday said that 50 policemen were seriously injured in the violence.
Clashes with police were also reported from Bhadohi, Bahraich, Amroha, Farurukhabad, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Hapur, Hathras, Bulandshahr, Hamirpur and Mahoba districts.
Internet services were suspended across major cities in Uttar Pradesh, following state government orders.
These included Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad, Agra, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Varanasi, Mathura, Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Bareli, Firozadad, Pilibhit, Rampur, Saharanpur, Shamli, Sambhal, Amroha, Mau, Azamgarh and Sultanpur.
Uttar Pradesh detentions
At a news conference, IG (law and order), Uttar Pradesh police, Praveen Kumar said that more than 700 people had been arrested across the state since December 10. Around 4,500 were in preventive detention, but later released. About 263 police personnel were injured in the protests, he added. About 220 have been arrested in Lucknow and nearly 50 in Kanpur.
In response to a habeas corpus petition, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on Saturday directed the state authorities to file a counter affidavit by December 24. The state has been asked to bring on record the arrest memo, remand order, medical examination report and other documents. Indian Civil Liberties Union (ICLU) advocate Yusuf Safwi, who represented five petitioners, said that though the oral dictation of the order was for all the detainees, the order typed reflected only one petitioner, Mohd Shoaib.
The matter has been listed for January 2.
According to Safwi, protesters have been booked under various sections, including No. 147 (punishment for rioting), No. 151 (assembly of five or more persons after it has been commanded to disperse), No. 307 (attempt to murder) and No. 335 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt on provocation) of the IPC, among several others. He added that the Uttar Pradesh police was still picking up people and detaining them.
