Citizenship Act Protest: The crowd of protesters at old Delhi's Daryaganj had refused to back down
A day after a metropolitan magistrate dismissed the bail plea of 15 protesters arrested by the Delhi Police on charges of violence at Daryaganj during Citizenship (Amendment) Act protest, a sessions court has issued notice to the police on a plea by the accused who are seeking bail.
Six out of the 15 protesters have gone to the sessions court for bail.
The counsel for the petitioners said all the accused were picked and detained by the Delhi Police from the streets without any evidence to show they participated in the violent protest.
The sessions court has adjourned the matter to December 28.
Last week, hours after Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad led a massive protest against the new citizenship law at Delhi's Jama Masjid and called for a protest march to Jantar Mantar, hundreds of protesters defied prohibitory orders and took to the streets at Daryaganj.
The Delhi Police had denied permission to the Bhim Army chief, who was later arrested, to conduct the protest march.
Swelling by the minute, the crowd of protesters had refused to back down and disperse peacefully and, as tensions rose, a vehicle was set on fire outside the Daryaganj police station, forcing the cops, who had deployed anti-riot Vajra vehicles, to resort to water cannons and lathi-charges to disperse the crowd and control the situation.
Delhi Police, who came under fire for allegedly deploying excessive force in quelling protests involving students from Jamia Millia Islamia, have said they neither lathi-charged protesters nor used tear gas that day. "We used mild force and water cannon... did not lathi-charge protesters or lob tear-gas shells," Delhi Police public relations officer MS Randhawa told news agency Press Trust of India.
Protests have been going on intermittently against the amended citizenship law. Any gathering of four or more people are banned at Mandi House today.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act for the first time makes religion the test of citizenship in India. The government says it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries to get citizenship if they fled to India before 2015 because of religious persecution. Critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principles of the constitution.